Leila Khoury Barclay is an American storyteller, journalist and founder of Al-Hakawati ("The Storyteller"), an online provider dedicated to educating people on Arabic art, culture and history,[1] in 2002.[2] The site has been featured on Radio Orient in Paris, France and has also been used for teaching purposes in the Arabic department at the University of Pennsylvania.[1]
Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon to an Iraqi mother and Palestinian father,[1] Barclay had lived in Lebanon up until the Lebanese civil war began, leaving her to continue her studies in London.[1] She later moved to the United States and gained both a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's degree in German literature from the Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.[2] Soon after she returned to Lebanon after graduating in 1982 and worked as a journalist in Beirut between the years 1982 to 1984 and produced a first issue entertainment guide for Lebanon; however, it failed to be published due to the circumstance of war.[2]
Whilst returning to the States, she married David Barclay, whom she met at university. They both settled in New Jersey raising their four children.[1]