Huda al-Rasheed (or al-Rashid; ar|هدى الرشيد) is a Saudi Arabian broadcaster and writer. She was the first woman to present a newscast on Saudi television and was a familiar voice on BBC World Service for more than 40 years.[1]
Al-Rasheed was born in Unaizah, Najd, Saudi Arabia and educated at boarding schools in Lebanon and Egypt.[2]
In the early 1970s she started working as an editor for Okaz, a daily newspaper in Jeddah, and broadcasting on Jeddah Radio, presenting political and arts programs.[3] In 1974 she moved from radio to television, becoming the first woman news presenter in the kingdom when she appeared on Channel One.[3] [4]
Her tenure at Channel One proved brief. While in London to study English, al-Rasheed toured the studios of the BBC.[2] Shortly after returning home, the BBC World Service offered her a position as a radio broadcaster, so she returned to England, joining BBC Arabic on 10 September 1974.[2] She took a hiatus from the BBC starting in 1989 to complete a degree history and English literature at the University of Buckingham, and then master's degrees in media studies, linguistics and translation.[2]
In addition to broadcasting, al-Rasheed is a novelist and short story writer. Her first publication was a collection of short stories in 1973.[5] She has also published a number of novels.