Rym Ghazal

Rym T. Ghazal is an Award winning Senior Journalist, Middle East Correspondent, a psychologist, published author, researcher & “Single in the City” columnist with The National Newspaper, Abu Dhabi, UAE. She also teaches at universities.

Love Notes From Inside a Syrian Jail won the 2014 prestigious Anna Lindh Foundation Mediterranean Journalist Awards, in Thematic Focus.

Follow Rym on Twitter: @Arabianmau

In her 12 years as a journalist, Rym has covered war zones, assassinations, revolutions and elections. Done in-depth features on tribes and social issues as well as interviews with royals, sheikhs and sheikhas, celebrities, politicians, heroes and historic figures like Alexis Leonov, the first man to walk in space.

She is also the author of the popular weekly column, “single in the city”, where she tackles the everyday dramas of being single and the adventures encountered in the ultimate search for love.

Besides working on documentaries ('Veiled Police' & 'Mr Beautiful'), she is the author of the national bestseller "Maskoon" (haunted), a young adult horror book with a surprise ending that follows four teenagers and their experiences with the world of spirits and Jinn as they spend a night in a haunted palace. Based on a real haunted palace in the UAE, it is said to be “the first full Arabic novel written within the paranormal genre.”

Rym did psychology and culture research projects in Middle East, like a Bachelor's thesis in Saudi Arabia and then a Master's thesis in Iraq during the second Gulf War. Produces and shoots documentaries for New York University Abu Dhabi on Emirati communities related to heritage and history. Launched historical and contemporary projects on tribes, currency, stamps, as well as culture of coffee and trade.

A judge on writing competitions and holds reading sessions at libraries and schools. Launched Reading Therapy in conflict zones. Most recent humanitarian efforts include Foosball tournaments through WAR CHILD UNICEF with Syrian refugee children in Lebanon.

She received several awards, like the prestigious Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Award.

Selected by Canada's Foreign Affairs for the International Notebook program (which selects Canada’s best future foreign correspondents) & selected by the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute for Military Journalism, a prestigious selection of fu