About Mohamed

The nutshell: Egyptian-Bahraini logophile, poet, writer, book-worm, journalist, corporate communications professional, coffee-connoisseur, cultural commentator, amateur psychologist & anti-discrimination advocate. Alumnus of the American University in Cairo ('09) & the University of British Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism ('12).

The narrative: My name is Mohamed Algarf and I’m a word-nerd. Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve been obsessed with the written word. My father was a doctor and university lecturer and my mother is a published poet and psychiatrist. This translated into a house full of books, a sort of ‘literary-hoarding’ situation. I was also the youngest child, who inherited the libraries of three older sisters. This resulted in quite the mix of reading materials, ranging from physiology to mythology and from poetry to psychology. 

I became fascinated by the different styles of writing, the different ways authors strung words together to create meaning. Eventually, I started my own library, which has grown tremendously over the years to include authors from all over the world and books of all genres. I now also have a massive digital library in the e-reader I literally take everywhere with me (yes, everywhere).

But reading, no matter how obsessive, wasn’t enough. Enter Mohamed, the wordsmith.  I wrote my first poem when I was around seven years old and never looked back. As a preteen,  I started making up stories and forcing my cousins to act them out for me. I then started dabbling in short stories and eventually wrote ‘a horror-novel’ when I was 12 years old (critically acclaimed by the two people who read it, I might add). My love for writing came to match my love for reading; and poetry, especially, become a life-long passion.

This website features samples of my writing portfolio from across the years, mainly beginning from circa mid-2000s, and includes poetry, narrative writing, prose, journalistic pieces, academic writing and of course, the mandatory 'artists observe the world in a different way' (aren't we a self-indulgent/delusional bunch?) section with my commentary on various topics and world events.

More? I think too much, delve too deep, sleep to little, dream elaborately and I'm perpetually working on the opening chapters of a novel (or three).  Oh, and I also take the occasional photograph.