I was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1934. I completed my high school education in the Collège des Frères (Catholic school) in 1955, and in 1959, I obtained my B.A. in Arabic language and literature from Cairo University. In 1960, I obtained a diploma in pedagogy and psychology from Ein-Shams University (Cairo).
 

After graduation, I spent 8 years at the Collège de La Salle (Cairo) as an Arabic teacher. In 1963, I got a job in the Department of Political Affairs of the Egyptian Broadcasting Authority as an editor-translator. In 1969, the French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) inaugurated a special unit within the Middle East News Agency (MENA) in Cairo to get the news sent from Paris translated into Arabic. I joined this unit from 1969 to 1974. In 1973, I joined the Information Department of the Presidency of the Republic as a translaor. In 1974, I was offered a post in the professional category at the Translation Division of the Department of Conference Services in the United Nations Headquarters in New York, which I accepted. My new career lasted from 1974 to 1995 when I retired. It consisted of translating, revising and coordinating the various documents issued by the different bodies, organs and agencies of the UN system, and compounding thematic terms in my working languages, namely, English, French and Spanish.

I am a member of the American Arab Scientific Society (AASS) which sponsors the postgraduates who come from the Arab countries to the US to study or to work, and organizes scientific seminars and conferences in the Arab World, with the participation of the US scientific society.

I have been, since my childhood, interested in the Arabic calligraphy which has been, within the Arabic lessons, a separate subject in the school curriculum. I acquired some books about Islamic arts and architecture and about the history of the Arabic calligraphy. I put this artistic hobby into practice by writing, in modern calligraphy, some verses of the Holy Qur’an and sayings of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), one third of the 99 beautiful attributes of Allah (God) and some proverbs and maxims.

There is another aspect of my artistic activities. Whenever a familial or social event occurs, I send a greeting card to the person concerned, not only to convey to him or her my congratulations, but also to describe the event in a humoristic way, and to write his or her name in an artistic form. These humoristic descriptions cover also social relations and work life inside and outside my country.