35 Writers from Beirut

Etel Adnan is a Syrian-American poet, essayist, and visual artist. In 2003, Adnan was named "arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab American author writing today" by the academic journal MELUS: Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States.

Akl Awit is a Lebanese poet, critic, literary journalist and academic professor holding a Ph.D degree in modern Arabic literature. All his life, Awit has been passionate about poetry, for it has been the mean for him to express his feelings. His writings have been known to be bold and “daring”. Awit’s work, including individual poetry books and anthologies, has been published not only locally, but also translated and distributed internationally.

Alain Berbérian was a French film director and writer of Armenian descent.

Ely Dagher is a Lebanese director, screenwriter and artist known for his short film Waves '98.

Hassan Daoud is a Lebanese writer and journalist. Originally from the village of Noumairieh in southern Lebanon, he moved to Beirut as a child with his family. He studied Arabic literature at university. During the Lebanese civil war that broke out in 1975, he worked as a journalist, a profession he has pursued ever since. He served as a correspondent for al-Hayat for 11 years. At present he edits Nawafez, the cultural supplement of the Beiruti newspaper al-Mustaqbal.

Raghida Dergham is a Lebanese-American journalist based in New York. She is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Beirut Institute and Columnist for The National. She served as Columnist, Senior Diplomatic Correspondent, and New York Bureau Chief for the London-based Al-Hayat daily for 28 years. She is well-known internationally as a Middle Eastern female journalist, and has received awards for her career achievements.

Lieutenant Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson was a British colonial administrator in the Middle East from the 1920s until the 1940s, and author of several books on Kuwait.

George Eid is a multilingual Lebanese senior journalist, anchor, war correspondent, documentary producer and university lecturer, columnist known for his liberal reports and articles. He is among the young journalists who appeared in Lebanon after 2007.

Fawaz A. Gerges is a Lebanese-American academic and author with expertise on the Middle East, U.S. foreign policy, international relations, Al Qaeda, and relations between the Islamic and Western worlds.

Kim Ghattas is a Dutch-Lebanese journalist for the BBC and author who has covered the US State Department. She is a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Fuad Sami Haddad was a neurosurgeon, humanitarian, and writer. He was born in Beirut and spent most of his life in Lebanon.

Joumana Haddad is a Lebanese author, public speaker, journalist and women's rights activist. She has been selected as one of the world’s 100 most powerful Arab women for four years in a row by Arabian Business Magazine, for her cultural and social activism. She is founder of Jasad, a quarterly Arabic-language magazine specialized in the arts and literature of the body (2009–2011). Haddad launched a new TV show in November 2018 on Alhurra highlighting the topics of free expression and critical thinking.

Rawi Hage is a Lebanese-Canadian writer and photographer based in Canada.

Dominic "Dom" John Romulus Joly is an English television comedian and travel writer, known as the star of Trigger Happy TV, a hidden camera show sold to over seventy countries worldwide.

Roula Khalaf is a British-Lebanese journalist who is the editor of the Financial Times, having been its deputy editor and foreign editor. She succeeded Lionel Barber as editor on 20 January 2020.

Anbara Salam Khalidi was a Lebanese feminist, translator and author, who significantly contributed to the emancipation of Arab women.

Sarah Joe Chamoun, known professionally as Mia Khalifa, also known as Mia Callista, is a Lebanese-American media personality, webcam model, and former pornographic actress. Born in Beirut, she moved to Maryland in 2001. She began acting in pornography in October 2014, becoming the most viewed performer on Pornhub in two months. Her career choice was met with controversy in the Middle East, especially for a video in which she performed sexual acts while wearing a hijab.

Nabila Khashoggi is an American businesswoman, actress, and philanthropist.

Elias Khoury is a Lebanese novelist, and prominent public intellectual. Accordingly, he has published myriad novels related to literary criticism, which have been translated into several foreign languages, including English. Khoury has also written three plays and two screenplays.

Jalal Khoury was a playwright, theatre director, comedian and artistic editor.

Gad Eitan Lerner is an Italian journalist, writer and TV presenter.

Amin Maalouf is a Lebanese-born French author who has lived in France since 1976. Although his native language is Arabic, he writes in French, and his works have been translated into over 40 languages.

Barbara Abdeni Massaad is a Lebanese / American cookbook author, photographer, food consultant, TV host. She is the author of several books, including the award-winning books:Man’oushé: Inside the Street Corner Lebanese Bakery and Mouneh: Preserving Foods for the Lebanese Pantry. Man’oushé has been translated into French and Mouneh into Arabic.

Razmik Panossian is a Canadian-Armenian historian and political scientist.

Kamal Suleiman Salibi was a Lebanese historian, professor of history at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the founding Director of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies in Amman, Jordan. He was a lifetime bachelor, who devoted his life to books.

Georges Schehadé was a Lebanese playwright and poet writing in French.

Antoine Sfeir was a Franco-Lebanese journalist.

Hanan al-Shaykh is an acclaimed Lebanese author of contemporary literature.

Simon Simonian was an Armenian intellectual who founded the literary and social Armenian periodical Spurk.

Salah Stétié was a Lebanese writer and poet who wrote in the French language. He also served in various diplomatic positions for Lebanon in countries such as Morocco and France. Although his mother tongue was Arabic, Stetie chose to write in French.

Nayla Tamraz is a Lebanese writer, art critic, curator, researcher and professor of Literature and Art History at Saint Joseph University of Beirut. She obtained her PhD in Comparative Literature from the New Sorbonne University in 2004.

Viscount Philippe de Tarrazi, was a Lebanese polymath, philanthropist, founder of the National Library of Lebanon and a founding member of the Arab Academy of Damascus.

Ghassan Tueni was a veteran Lebanese journalist, politician and diplomat who headed An Nahar, one of the Arab World's leading newspapers. He was often referred to as the "Dean of Lebanese Journalism".

Ernst von Wildenbruch was a German poet and dramatist.

Ibrahim al-Yaziji was a Lebanese Christian philosopher, philologist, poet and journalist. He belonged to the Greek Catholic population of the Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon.