Omar Mouallem is a Canadian writer and filmmaker. He has contributed to ''

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

'', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', '' NewYorker.com'' and ''

RollingStone.com ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

''. His essays and features have garnered him recognition from the Canadian National Magazine Awards and Alberta Literary Awards. He co-authored a book about the

2016 Fort McMurray wildfire On May 1, 2016, a wildfire began southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. On May 3, it swept through the community, forcing the largest wildfire evacuation in Alberta's history, with upwards of 88,000 people forced from their ho ...

titled "Inside the Inferno: A Firefighter's Story of the Brotherhood that Saved Fort McMurray" (published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

Canada). His book “Praying to the West: How Muslims Shaped the Americas,” a travelogue centred around 13 mosques, was named one of the best books of 2021 by

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

. It was awarded the 2022 Wilfred Eggelston Nonfiction Award by the

Alberta Literary Awards The Alberta Literary Awards (ALA), administered by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta, have been awarded annually since 1982 to recognize outstanding writing by Alberta authors. The awards honour fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, children's literatu ...

. He has won three Canadian National Magazine Awards, including best profile in 2014 for the Eighteen Bridges story, "The Kingdom of Haymour", which profiled a man who took the Canadian Embassy in Beirut hostage in the 1970s over a British Columbia land dispute. The article partially inspired the 2020 documentary film “Eddy’s Kingdom”, for which Mouallem was a key interview. Mouallem directed and produced two documentaries, 2019’s “Digging in the Dirt”, a CBC coproduction about a mental health crises in the Alberta

oil sands Oil sands, tar sands, crude bitumen, or bituminous sands, are a type of unconventional petroleum deposit. Oil sands are either loose sands or partially consolidated sandstone containing a naturally occurring mixture of sand, clay, and wate ...

workforce, and 2021’s “The Last Baron”, a first-person film about the unlikely connection between Lebanon’s civil war and the Canadian fast-food chain

Burger Baron The Burger Baron name is used by several fast-food restaurants in western Canada. History Founded in 1957 in either Calgary or Lethbridge, Alberta (the location and ownership of the first site is disputed), Burger Baron was the first drive-in ...

. After premiering on CBC Gem, it gained notable popularity and it was heralded as one of the “best Canadian food documentaries” by enRoute magazine. Mouallem announced that the short film would be expanded into a feature documentary retitled “The Lebanese Burger Mafia” and released in 2022. In 2013, he won Edmonton's Emerging Artist Award and served as the

Edmonton Public Library The Edmonton Public Library (EPL) is a publicly funded library system in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, available for use by any member of the public. Library cards are free to all Edmontonians; as part of its centennial in 2013, the Edmo ...

's writer in residence. In 2022, he was awarded an Emerging Artists Award from the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mouallem, Omar 1985 births Living people Canadian people of Lebanese descent Journalists from Alberta Writers from Alberta