12 Facts About Rana Kabbani

Rana Kabbani is a British Syrian cultural historian, writer and broadcaster who lives in London.

Rana Kabbani has written for Spare Rib, the International Herald Tribune, The New Statesman, The Guardian, British Vogue, The Independent, Al Quds al Arabi, and Islamica.

Rana Kabbani has made and contributed to many television and radio programmes for the BBC, on subjects such as literature, music, minority rights, Islamic culture, food, feminism, women's rights, painting, and British politics.

Rana Kabbani has spoken out against Islamophobia, defining its historic roots in colonialism.

In particular, Kabbani was influenced by her maternal grandmother Salwa Ghazzi, suffragette and pioneering feminist from an landowning liberal educated patrician family.

Rana Kabbani spent her childhood and young adulthood in New York City, Damascus, Jakarta and Washington DC, where her father held a career as a diplomat and Syrian ambassador.

Rana Kabbani received her BA degree from Georgetown University, her MA degree from the American University of Beirut, and her Ph.

Rana Kabbani married Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish twice - in 1976 and then again in 1978.

Rana Kabbani worked as an art critic in Paris, and later moved to London to work as a publisher's editor.

Rana Kabbani has written for The Independent, The International Herald Tribune, The New Statesman, British Vogue, The Guardian.

Rana Kabbani has been a fund raiser and a spokesperson for British charities that raise money for Syrian refugees, as well as for autism and mental illness.

Rana Kabbani is trilingual in Arabic, French and English, and has travelled extensively in Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Russia, the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Latin America.