Nahlah Ayed

Ayed was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1970 to Palestinian parents. The couple had immigrated to Canada in 1966 and lived in suburban Winnipeg until Ayed was six years old. Ayed's mother gave the children lessons in Arabic at home.^[1] The Ayed family moved to a Palestinian refugee camp in Amman, Jordan, where their relatives lived, to become acquainted with them and their culture. The family stayed there for seven years before moving back to Winnipeg in 1983.^[2]

After completing high school in Winnipeg, Ayed pursued a Bachelor of Science in genetics and a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies at the University of Manitoba. Her time as a writer with the student newspaper at the university led her to the Master of Journalism program at Carleton University in Ottawa, where she also worked as a freelance writer for the Ottawa Citizen newspaper. Shortly after graduating, Ayed began working as a parliamentary correspondent for The Canadian Press in 1997.^[3]

Ayed joined the CBC in 2002 on a freelance contract and, in 2003, served as the network’s Amman correspondent during the American invasion of Iraq. Ayed spent months in Baghdad prior to the outbreak of the subsequent war, and later returned to report live from Baghdad as the city fell.^[4] Her coverage of Iraq in the aftermath earned her a Gemini Award nomination.

From 2004 until 2009, Ayed was the CBC's Beirut correspondent, covering events throughout the Middle East region, including the 2006 Lebanon War and the 2008–2009 Gaza War. She received her second Gemini Award nomination in 2010 for her coverage of the Iran presidential elections the year prior, and her third nomination for her coverage of the 2011 uprisings in Egypt.^[5]

In 2012, Ayed published her memoir, titled A Thousand Farewells: A Reporter's Journey from Refugee Camp to the Arab Spring, describing her early life and her experiences covering conflict in the Middle East. The book was a finalist for the 2012 Governor General's Literary Awards.^[6]

She joined the CBC's London, UK bureau in 2012, reporting on events such as Russia's annexation of Crimea,^[7] Brexit,^[8] and Europe's refugee crisis.^[9]

She returned to Canada in 2019 when it was announced that she would be the new host of Ideas, taking over from the retiring Paul Kennedy in September.^[10]

On May 28, 2024, Ayed published The War We Won Apart: The Untold Story of Two Elite Agents Who Became One of the Most Decorated Couples of WWII. She relates the factual account of two secret agents, Sonia Butt, a British woman, and Guy d'Artois, a French-Canadian soldier. They served in Winston Churchill's secret army, the Special Operations Executive, in separate parts of Nazi-occupied France.

Undated awards

• The Canadian Press President's Award
• The LiveWire Award

Honorary degrees

• LL.D., University of Manitoba (2008)^[22]
• LL.D., Concordia University (2016)^[23]
• LL.D., University of Alberta (2018)^[24]