About

I am a freelance writer (currently) based in Dubai, UAE. I hail from infamous little Lebanon, whose chronic socio-political viruses have made it an unsuitable home (although nothing will ever feel quite as right as the bullet peep holes and wicker basket limbs of Beiruti buildings, the halo of clotheslines suspended above the city, the vegetable preachers and taxi driver oracles, the public graffiti sphere, and the constant honking of horns which remind us that ours is a society both embittered and impassioned).

I have a tendency to rant, as you might just have noticed. I like to write for publications that appreciate mad thoughts and weird words, and that are sympathetic towards my incurable compulsion for writing marathon sentences. If need be I can sprint, though. I can feign objectivity. Rants, after all, can’t buy me beer.

I have written for Al Jazeera English, Mashallah News, TheState, Harper’s Bazaar Art Arabia, Jadaliyya, Egypt Independent, Kalimat Magazine, Canvas Magazine, Brownbook Magazine, REORIENT, The Arab Review, and the Abu Dhabi Film Festival Magazine. I have an MA in Near Eastern Studies from New York University (unless you too have an unhealthy obsession with Michel Foucault you probably don’t want to hear about my thesis) and a BA in International Studies (what’s that?) from the American University of Sharjah. I have a full-time job, but that’s no discussion topic for a blog. I was reluctant to set up this page and I will likely be terrible at maintaining it, but I wanted to consolidate my writing in one place.

I am proud to be on the editorial team of the incomparable Mashallah News. If you’re interested in contributing, please get in touch.

More generally, if you want to discuss my writing, your writing, random people’s writing, the novels of Jack Kerouac, how awesome Alt-J’s music is, why Woody Allen films are fodder for the neurotic, or if you want me to write for, with or about you, send me an email (or preferably a rant of your own).

email: sophiechamas@gmail.com