Hamza Olayan

حمزة عليان

Hamza Olayan

Born in a small village in Lebanon, Hamza Olayan starts the interview with his earliest childhood memories with his siblings and friends. He talks about his upbringing and early education in Lebanon and the encouragement and love he received from his family. In his early teen years, he moves to Beirut to look for work to support himself and his family. There, he lands a job at the archives of Alhawadeth Magazine. Olayan also finds the time to continue his education while working on his career. In Beirut, Olayan gets the opportunity to work in different magazines and newspapers. Among these places are Alhawadeth, Aldistor, and Alsafeer. Upon the civil war in Lebanon, Olayan decides to move to Kuwait in 1976. He tells us the story of arriving to Kuwait and building the archives in Alqabas Newspaper. After settling in Kuwait, Olayan starts a family and enjoys the social and cultural life of Kuwait in the 70s. Olayan dedicates the last part of the interview to talking about the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the events of the occupation. He describes his journey leaving occupied Kuwait through Iraq to Lebanon. He returns to Kuwait shortly after the liberation in 1991 and speaks about the period of rebuilding Kuwait and repairing the damage caused by the Iraqi forces. At the end of the interview Olayan focuses on his research and publications from the 1990s until the present time.