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Ray Hanania

"Defining the moderate Palestinian Arab voice, offering reason to the American, Israeli and Arab publics"

Ray Hanania blogs on HuffingtonPost.com. He hosts a radio show and is a columnist with the Arab American Writers Group Syndicate.

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MidEastYouth Blog

Arab Writers Group Syndicate

Radio Chicagoland

Biographical sketch -- View Complete Bio?

  • National Winner Best Ethnic Columnist in America 2006/2007 New America Media
  • Three-time winner, Society of Professional Journalists Peter Lisagor Award for Column Writing (1985, 2002, 2006)
  • Two-time winner, Chicago Newspaper Guild Stick-O-Type Award
  • 1990 Pulitzer Prize Nominee (nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times)
  • Author, standup comedian, satirist, filmmaker, radio talk show host

BOOK RAY HANANIA AS A SPEAKER -- and Review Reccomendation Letters

NAMED "Best of the Best" Presenters/Speakers by LACONI
(Library Administrators Conference of Northern Illinois, 2007)

What Editor & Publisher Magazine says about Ray Hanania
Dec. 28, 2006

"Ray Hanania, a former Creators columnist who's now self-syndicated, is a Palestinian-American writer married to a Jewish woman. He writes about Mideast issues in an evenhanded way that makes him seem positively radical in a sea of columnists who back Israel almost unconditionally. Hanania's approach, as former President Jimmy Carter discovered with his latest book, is not popular with much of the mainstream media. But it would be interesting if U.S. dailies followed the lead of Israeli newspapers in allowing a much wider spectrum of debate about Mideast issues. By the way, Hanania is also a stand-up comedian who's hilarious when he opts to use humor."

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View profile in
the Orland Park Prairie
Newspaper, Dec. 7, 2006?
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LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION
(ON SPEAKING & COMEDY PERFORMANCES)
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Get info on the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour
and help confront the hatred and animosity between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East.
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Get info on Hanania's past Comedy for Peace Campaign?

A longtime, veteran Chicago political reporter, Hanania now writes an award winning column for the Southwest News-Herald Newspaper, blogs for the Internet's #1 ranked news blog, the HuffingtonPost.com, and offers a syndicated column on Middle East issues to newspapers across the country and around the world through the Arab American Writers Syndicate. A former talk show on WLS AM Radio (and previously on WBBM FM and WLUP FM radio), Hanania covered Chicago City Hall from "Daley to Daley" (1976-1992) writing for the Chicago Sun-Times. He hosts Radio Chicagoland on WCEV 1450 AM every Tuesday and Thursday from 4 until 6 PM.

Hanania is the publisher of the National Arab American Times News Newspaper, an English-Arabic language community newspaper that focuses on Arab American community events and news, distributed in 48 States. As a parttime, freelance columnist, Hanania also provides media support for web pages and internal communications projects.

Hanania is also a recognized Arab American historian and author of eight books including "Arabs of Chicagoland." He is an activist for peace between Palestinians and Israelis speaking out against terrorism, extremism, Islamic fanaticism and in favor of peace based on non-violence and compromise. Hanania is also an internationally acclaimed standup comedian turning to standup comedy and humor performing for Christian, Muslim and Jewish audiences around the world to confront hatred and animosity. He co-founded the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour.

In November 2006, Hanania was named "Best National Ethnic Columnist" by the New America Media for his columns published by the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth on their English-langauge web site (YnetNews.com). He is the recipient of three Society of Professional Journalism "Lisagor Awards for Columns Writing" (1984/85, 2002/03, and 2006/07). Hanania's columns on the Middle East have been published by YnetNews.com, the Jerusalem Post, Haaretz, the Saudi Arabia Arab News, al-Quds Newspaper, as Sharq al-Awsat, and the Arlington Heights Daily Herald, NEWSWEEK, the New York Daily News, Newsday and the Orlando Sentinal. He also writes opinion columns on Chicagoland and American domestice politics and life for the Chicago Southwest News-Herald. Hanania also provides video-blog commentaries for The Listening Post on Al-Jazeera English.

In twice earning the prestigious "Stick-o-Type" Award for column writing, the judges in 1984 credited "his deft analyses that deflate the overblown and irritate the mighty," and in 1986 applauded Hanania for "displaying a special voice in columns that were humorous and insightful."

Arab Writers Group SyndicationOriginally distributed by Creators Syndicate, Hanania now self-syndicates directly to newspapers and to new media & online media through the Arab American Writers Group Syndication. A Palestinian American, Hanania is one of a small handful of Arab American professional journalists who write columns analyzing Middle East issues on a regular basis for a major American newspaper. In 2003, he won a Society of Professional Journalism Lisagor Award for his columns in the Arlington Heights Daily Herald.

He is the host of the weekly Comcast Cable TV Program "30 Minutes" which addresses Arab American and mainstream American issues, and a regular video-blog contributor to Al-Jazeera's English Language program "Listenning Post."

Hanania is a co-founder of the Chicago Chapter of the National Arab American Journalists Association, is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, the Society of Professional Journalists serving on their Diversity Board, the Asian American Journalists Association serving on their Media Watch Committee, and the Radius of Arab Writers Inc. (RAWI). He is the author of eight books including the humor books "I'm Glad I Look Like a Terrorist: Growing Up Arab in America" and "Talking to Israelis."

Additionally, Hanania is a standup comedian. His Arab American-Jewish comedy routine lampoons his life and unique marriage to his wife, Alison, who is Jewish, at clubs, universities and Arab, Muslim, Jewish and American events around the country. His web page is www.hanania.com. The comedy web page is www.IPComedyTour.com.

"After Sept. 11, many Arab Americans like myself were targeted. Many were intimidated into denying or abandoning their Arab heritage. We lost employment, job opportunities and watched as our ethnic press was decimated. We had seven Arab American ethnic newspapers in Chicago before Sept. 11. After, all but one closed. Five years later, we have two. This is a pattern we've seen across the United States, not just in Arab American journalism but in business, industry and on the social level, too. I think that says everything about the challenges Arabs face in this country today. Using communications, we can change that and at the same time, make America the country it was intended to be."

Subscribe to Ray Hanania's eNewsletter to to keep up with his columns on the HuffingtonPost.com, SWNewsHerald.com, Arab News, his RadioChicagoland show, standup comedy appearances and speeches on defining the moderate Arab voice. Low volume, email broadcast list. Subscribe by adding your email below:
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Ray Hanania
P.O. Box 2127
Orland Park, IL 60462
708-575-9078 eFax
For faster response, email rayhanania@comcast.net

FaceBook Web Page: http://www.facebook.com/p/Ray_Hanania/507011939

MySpace.com Web Page: http://www.MySpace.com/rayhanania

Please note, I am NOT a member nor am I an adviser to the "Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism." Although the group's principles are noteworthy, their views do not necessarily represent my efforts to bridge differences between Palestinians and Israelis.

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