Art of Persia

Confabulating with Samira Ahmed Samira Ahmed (born 15 June 1968) is a British journalist, writer and broadcaster at the BBC, where she has presented Radio 3's Night Waves and Radio 4's PM, The World Tonight, Sunday and Front Row and has presented the Proms for BBC Four. Her writing has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent and for The Spectator magazine's Arts Blog. She was a reporter and presenter on Channel 4 News from 2000 to 2011. She presented Sunday Morning Live, a topical discussion programme on BBC One from 2012 to 2013. Ahmed became a BBC news trainee in 1990. After two years on attachments, she began to work as a network radio reporter in 1992 on such programmes as Today. Fearful her short BBC contract would not be renewed after a mishap in a difficult situation, Ahmed applied for, and was taken on, by BBC World for work as a presenter, which led to her becoming a reporter for Newsnight. She was the BBC's Los Angeles correspondent during 1996–97 and filed reports on the O. J. Simpson civil trial. Ahmed briefly worked for Deutsche Welle in Berlin as an anchor and political correspondent, but then returned for a brief spell with BBC World and as a night shift presenter for BBC News 24 before taking maternity leave. Ahmed joined Channel 4 News in April 2000, and became a presenter in July 2002. In June 2011 Ahmed left Channel 4, and went freelance. In June 2020 BBC Four aired the three part study of the "Art of Persia".