1

I was born in Madison, Wisconsin (USA). It was during that time when my father was a PhD student at the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My father, Professor Abdulaziz Alshaikh, is currently an urban geography professor at the Department of Geography at King Saud University (KSU), in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The first language I spoke was English, now I know Arabic as well :)

2

I studied Management Information Systems (MIS) in King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals(KFUPM)[wiki,site] in Dhahran. In 1999 I completed my degree and was awarded B.Sc. in Management Information Systems.

It was there where I learned that design is an endless process.

3

After graduation I joined the Space Research Institute (SRI) in Riyadh. I joined the first team of scientist and engineers to design, build and launch the first Saudi satellite SaudiSat 1A and SaudiSat 1B. Since then, I participated in numerous satellite projects until I was awarded my scholarship for graduate and post-graduate studies in 2004.

4

In 2004, my first poetry book, in Arabic, was published titled "Thus I draw alone !". The book was planned to be published in 2002, but the process of editing took longer than expected. The book is a collection of works written between 1998 and 2001, some of which were not published during that time.

The book was well received.

5

I received my Master's degree in Software Engineering in 2006 from ANU, and got accepted to my current doctoral program in the same year, and commenced my program in Jan 2007.

On my work thus far, more information is available in About My Work

6

In Nov 2007, my second poetry book was published titled "Spikes of A Love". The book is a collection of works written between 2003 and 2006.

Since 'critics', as it seems, have not made up their minds yet, it might be still early to say how well the book was received.

7

My third poetry book is published !
It took some time to get this book out, the book titled "A Blog for Beirut", is a long poem written between July and Aug of 2006. The book was delayed as it was awaiting review by two referees. It felt like an early rehearsal for my thesis review !
It was finally published in Feb 2008.

Reviews ?
Who cares ?!