Omar El Akkad
Omar El Akkad is an author and journalist who has covered news stories ranging from the military trials in Guantanamo Bay, to the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt, to the Black Lives Matter movement in Ferguson, Missouri. His debut novel, American War (2017), was longlisted for the 2018 Carnegie Medal of Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. His most recent book and nonfiction debut, One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This (2025), won the 2025 National Book Award for Nonfiction. El Akkad was awarded Canada’s National Newspaper Award for investigative reporting and the Goff Penny Memorial Prize for Young Canadian Journalists, as well as three National Magazine Award honorable mentions.