Salwa Jarrah

Salwa Jarrah (; born 1946) is an author and former BBC Arabic broadcaster. Jarrah was born in Haifa, Mandatory Palestine, to a family from Acre, Mandatory Palestine. She grew up in Basra, Iraq.

Career Jarrah graduated from Al-Hikma University (Baghdad) with a bachelor's degree in English in 1977. She began working with BBC Arabic as a broadcaster in 1977, where she wrote and presented several programs. According to BBC News, the program "provided useful advice with the help of highly qualified experts and doctors" and addressed sexual issues considered to be taboo in the Arab world. Jarrah also hosted the program "Oasis," the BBC Arabic equivalent of the BBC Radio program, Desert Island.

Jarrah, along with fellow broadcasters Madiha Rashid Al-Madfai and Huda al-Rasheed, is credited as being part of a "trend of feminisation" of BBC Arabic which, during its zenith, "cultivated the loyalty of millions of listeners in the Middle East and North Africa."

Since retiring in 1999, Jarrah has authored several Arabic novels, including "Fifth Season" (2005), "Rocks of the Shore" (2007), "Insomnia" (2009), "Image in Still Water" (2014), "Narrow Doors" (2016), and "When Tales Intertwine" (2020). In 2019, Jarrah published an autobiography, "Scattered Papers", describing her childhood, family life, career, and connection to Acre, the Palestinian city where her family lived before being displaced in 1948. Her niece, Huda Asfour, is an academic and oud musician.