Adel Bishtawi

Historian and novelist Adel S Bishtawi was born in Nazareth, 1945. He read English Literature at Damascus University and attended a course in Linguistics at the Central London Polytechnic. A journalist since the late 1960s, he became Front Page Editor of Al Arab Newspaper (London), the first pan Arab Newspaper launched in Europe, and he is cofounder of two of the most important Arabic newspapers - Asharq Al Awsat (London) and Al-Hayat (London).Bishtawi's early fiction works included several anthologies of short stories and a novella. The Andalusian Moriscoes: History of the Moriscoes after the fall of Granada was published in Cairo in 1982. His first novel Traces of a Tattoo was published in 1998; his second (Times of Death and Roses) in 1999 and the third (Gardens of Despair) in 2000. Martyrdom of the Andalusian Nation (Part I) was released in 2001. History of Injustice in the Arab World was launched at the Sharjah World Book Fair in December 2005, and Manifest Destiny of Imperial Decline, came out in 2006.Almost permanently intrigued by origin of things around us, Bishtawi's occupation with the mysterious origin of the Arabic numerals led him to their accidental discovery. The story of this search was documented in the Origin of the Arabic Numerals - A natural history of numbers. This discovery, in turn, led him to the origin of ancient Arabian, and the origin to what he believes to be the most ancient human civilisation.The writer has published hundreds of articles and interviews in Arabic and English. He appears regularly on TV shows, and he participates in conferences and seminars on history, literature, religion, economy and current affairs.