Issandr El Amrani

Issandr El Amrani

Issandr El Amrani is a Moroccan-American writer and analyst. He founded this website in 2003. His reporting and commentary on the region has appeared in The Economist, London Review of Books, Financial Times, The National, The Guardian, Time and many other regional and international publications.

He began his journalistic career in Egypt at the Cairo Times (2000-2003) and was a co-founder of Cairo (2005-2006). He has contributed reporting, essays and columns to a number of international publications, including The Times, The Economist, The Guardian, The National, the London Review of Books, Middle East International, and Middle East Report. He has also worked as a consultant for corporate and NGO clients, advising them on Egyptian and Arab politics. Between 2013 and early 2019, he was the North Africa Project Director at International Crisis Group, a conflict-prevention NGO.

Issandr is now Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa at Open Society Foundations, a global philanthropic organization with a mission to build vibrant and tolerant societies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people.

Born in Rabat and raised in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, he lived in Cairo between 2000 and 2014 and Rabat between 2014 and 2019. He is currently making the transition to Amman, where he is based with his wife, Ursula Lindsey, and their son Milo.

Issandr can be contacted here.