Omar El Akkad, author portrait
© Kateshia Pendergrass

Omar El Akkad

OMAR EL AKKAD is an author and journalist. He was born in Egypt, grew up in Qatar, moved to Canada as a teenager and now lives in the United States. He is a two-time winner of both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers’ Award and the Oregon Book Award. His books have been translated into 13 languages. His debut novel, American War, was named by the BBC as one of 100 novels that shaped our world.

OMAR EL AKKAD is available for select speaking engagements. To inquire about a possible appearance, please contact Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau at speakers@penguinrandomhouse.com or visit prhspeakers.com.
One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
What Strange Paradise
American War

Meet the Author: Omar El Akkad (AMERICAN WAR)

Books

One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
What Strange Paradise
American War

Media

Meet the Author: Omar El Akkad (AMERICAN WAR)

What Students Will Be Reading: Campus Common Reading Roundup, 2024-25

With the fall semester in full swing, colleges and universities around the country have announced their Common Reading books for the upcoming 2024-25 academic year. We’ve compiled a list of over 340 programs and their title selections from publicly available sources, which you can download here: First-Year Reading 2024-25. We will continue to update this

Read more

2025 Catalog for First-Year & Common Reading

We are delighted to present our new First-Year & Common Reading Catalog for 2025! From award-winning fiction, poetry, memoir, and biography to new books about science, technology, history, student success, the environment, public health, and current events, the titles presented in our common reading catalog will have students not only eagerly flipping through the pages,

Read more

Videos from the 2018 First-Year Experience® Conference are now available

We’re pleased to share videos from the First-Year Experience® Conference held in San Antonio, TX this past February. If you weren’t able to join us for our author events at the conference, or would simply like to hear the talks again, please take a moment to view the clips below.   Penguin Random House Author

Read more