![]() He later returned to The Journal as the Production Manager, then as Editor in Chief. “I thought, ‘Well, the only thing I’m halfway good at is writing, maybe these people will let me write?’ So I went and interviewed for the job ,” El Akkad said.ĭespite being in “bad shape” after eating too many chicken wings before the interview, El Akkad got the position. He struggled and admitted to skipping class but explained how stumbling upon an opportunity at The Journal helped turn things around. “Queen’s was probably the defining stretch of my life leading up to the work I do now, just not in the way I thought it would be,” El Akkad said in an interview.Įl Akkad majored in computer science-something he claimed to have known very little about at the time of his studies. He fondly looks back on the time he spent at Queen’s-most of which he spent working at The Journal and honing his skills in Carolyn Smart’s creative writing classes. It’s been a long journey for El Akkad, ArtSci ’05, born in Egypt and moved to Canada at sixteen. ![]() ![]() ![]() In November 2021, Queen’s graduate Omar El Akkad took home the Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel What Strange Paradise. ![]()
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