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Graeme H. Wilson (February 18, 1970) is a British-born Arabist responsible for a handful of biographies on international statesmen and stateswomen, a columnist for various newspapers and documentary maker

Early Life

Wilson was born near Middlesbrough, an industrial town in Northern England. Educated at Stainsby and later Acklam Grange. While still at school he became a contributor to The Northern Echo and Evening Gazette, two regional newspapers, and before his teens was an active political and social activist.

He completed his studies and tried his hand as a professional gambler for two years travelling Britain’s racecourses, before tiring of Britain in the wake of John Major’s shock victory in the General Election of that year.

The Gulf

Arriving in the United Arab Emirates in 1992 would prove to be the beginning of a continuous association with the Arab world, a near 20-year period when he has lived or spent time in nearly every country across the Middle East and North Africa.

During this period Wilson was an occasional contributor to many British newspapers and worked on a variety of Arab and European television channels, while a columnist on Khaleej Times, then the highest circulating English-language daily in the Gulf.

But it was his biographical work that saw Wilson emerge, his 1999 book, on the late Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, going into four reprints. The lack of coherent information on Sheikh Rashid motivated him to write Father of Dubai, and the theme of ‘fresh’ stories ran through his body of work.

He went on to write a seminal book on Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, former President of the United Arab Emirates, published in 2000

A widening interest in little understood Arab leaders led to a permission to produce a book on Sultan Qaboos bin Said of the Sultanate of Oman, a book he subsequentally quit after clashes with the government in Muscat on direction. In 2000 he also controversially clashed with UAE media when, during a press conference launching on a biography of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai. Tackled by several Arab journalists on the credentials of a Westerner to pursue such a project, he accused some media outlets of “sycophancy” during a televised press conference and was rounded upon in some local media outlets.

A widening interest in regional affairs saw Wilson go on to complete a biography of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, President of Sri Lanka, and then Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, President of the Maldives. During the post-millennium period, he also completed books on two United Arab Emirates Rulers, Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi of Ras Al Khaimah and Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimai, Ruler of Ajman.

Controversy followed again in 2009 when Wilson withdrew from a project on Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa. After meeting the newly installed Head of State to initiate a biography, he became disenchanted with what he viewed as “rampant corruption and nepotism”.

Wilson was inducted as a member of the Royal Geographic Society in 2004.