Arab Americans
Lorraine Ali
Lorraine Ali is a reporter, editor and culture writer for many publications, including Newsweek where she is a Contributing Editor. She covers culture at large as well as pop culture, and writes frequently about the Middle East and Iraq in pieces such as “When Home Becomes Hell”.[1] She has interviewed everyone from music mogul Jay-Zto The Kite Runner author Khaled Hosseini[2] to former first daughter Jenna Bush.
Lorraine has worked as a senior critic for Rolling Stone, a music columnist for the Los Angeles Times and as a contributor to Mademoiselle and GQ. She has also written for The New York Times, The Village Voice, Entertainment Weekly and Harper’s Bazaar. Lorraine Ali has been interviewed on Oprah and Charlie Rose. She is currently writing a book about rediscovering her extended family in the midst of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Her book will be published in 2012 by Henry Holt and Company.[3]
Lorraine Ali was born to an Iraqi American father who immigrated from Baghdad to Los Angeles in the 1950s. Her mother is of French Canadian descent and was born and raised in Los Angeles.[4] She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son.[5]
Awards
- In 2009, she won an award from the New York Press Club for her article “Mrs. Kramer vs Mrs. Kramer,” part of Newsweek’s continuing coverage of gay marriage.
- In 2007, she won “Best Online Feature” from the New York Association of Black Journalists
- In 2002, she won “Best Feature Writing” from the Gospel Music Association.
- In 2002, she won “Excellence in Journalism Award” from the National Arab American Journalists Association[6]
- In 2001, she was listed in Da Capo “Best Music Writing 2001” for her story West Bank Hard Core
- In 1997, she was voted “Music Journalist of the Year” at the Music Journalism Awards
- In 1996, she won “Best National Feature Story” honors at the Music Journalism Awards