Roula Khalaf, journalist

Roula Khalaf is a journalist and the first woman to serve as editor of the Financial Times in its 138‑year history. She joined the paper in 1995 as North Africa correspondent, covering the Algerian civil war before reporting more broadly across the Middle East, including Syria, Iran and Iraq, and later the Arab Spring. Roula was born in Beirut and grew up there during the Lebanese civil war which began in 1975. She studied communications at Syracuse University in New York State and then completed a Master’s degree in International Affairs at Columbia University. She joined Forbes Magazine in 1989 before relocating to the UK. Her work has earned several awards, including Foreign Commentator of the Year at the Editorial Intelligence Comment in 2016 Awards and the Foreign Press Association’s Feature Story of the Year for her reporting on Qatar in 2013. Roula has two children with her husband Assaad and lives in London. DISC ONE: Misunderstanding - Genesis DISC TWO: Dernière Danse - Indila DISC THREE: Oghneyat Al Bostah - Ziad Rahbani DISC FOUR: Feeling Good - Nina Simone DISC FIVE: Zina - Babylone DISC SIX: Ya Laure Houbbouki - Fairuz DISC SEVEN: Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day DISC EIGHT: 7 Seconds - Youssou N’Dour ft Neneh Cherry BOOK CHOICE: A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin LUXURY ITEM: A notebook and pen CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Ya Laure Houbbouki - Fairuz Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

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Roula Khalaf, journalist is an episode from Desert Island Discs by BBC.

This episode is 50:57 long.

This episode was published on Mar 22, 2026.

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