Abdullah Al-Eyaf

Abdulla Al Ayaf is a Saudi Arabian engineer and writer, born in Dammam, Saudi Arabia in 1976. He graduated from the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in 2001 and has worked as a writer and film director, winning local and regional prizes for his films. He has been a jury member and chair of judging panels for a number of film festivals. Since 2007, he has published hundreds of articles about cinema, media, literature and culture in local, Arab and foreign newspapers and magazines. He is currently head of the Film Institute of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was previously programme director of the King Abulaziz Centre for World Culture - Ithra. He has also headed up a number of cultural and artistic committees in Saudi Aramco and in charitable, non-profit making organisations. Hole to Heaven is his first novel.