Humphrey T. Davies
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Humphrey T. Davies
Humphrey T. Davies (6 April 1947 – 12 November 2021) was a British translator of Arabic fiction, historical and classical texts. Born in Great Britain, he studied Arabic in college and graduate school. He has worked for decades in the Arab world and been based in Cairo since the late 20th century. He has translated at least 18 Arabic works into English, including contemporary literature. He is a two-time winner of the Banipal Prize. Life and career Born in London on 6 April 1947, Davies studied Arabic at Cambridge University and the American University in Cairo's Centre for Arabic Studies Abroad (CASA) in the 1960s. After working in the Arabic world and as a translator for years, he completed a PhD in Arabic in 1981 at the University of California, Berkeley. Davies worked for NGOs and funding institutions in a number of countries in the Arab world, including Save the Children in State of Palestine, Palestine and the Ford Foundation in Sudan. He began translating in 1997. From ...
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Brackets
A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'right' bracket or, alternatively, an "opening bracket" or "closing bracket", respectively, depending on the Writing system#Directionality, directionality of the context. Specific forms of the mark include parentheses (also called "rounded brackets"), square brackets, curly brackets (also called 'braces'), and angle brackets (also called 'chevrons'), as well as various less common pairs of symbols. As well as signifying the overall class of punctuation, the word "bracket" is commonly used to refer to a specific form of bracket, which varies from region to region. In most English-speaking countries, an unqualified word "bracket" refers to the parenthesis (round bracket); in the United States, the square bracket. Glossary of mathematical sym ...
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Hazz Al-quhuf
Hazz al-quħūf, also known by its full title ''Hazz al-quħūf bi šarħ qaṣīd ʾabī šadūf'' (Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abu Shaduf Expounded), is a humorous 17th-century Arabic literary text written by Yusuf ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Jawad ibn Khidr al-Shirbini. The main subject of the book is everyday Egyptian rural life. It is known to contain some of the best samples of colloquial Arabic to have survived from before the 19th-century and is considered unusual in pre-20th-century literature for its focus on rural rather than urban themes. Author Most of what is known of the author, Yusuf al-Shirbini, comes from his own writing in ''Hazz al-quhuf'' and another short work, the only 2 surviving texts he authored; he does not appear in any of the biographies of his time. Yusuf al-Shirbini was born in the first half of the 17th century in Shirbin, a small village in North East Gharbiyya province on the Damietta branch of the Nile in Egypt. He was well-versed in the Arabic ...
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Gamal Al-Ghitani
Gamal al-Ghitani, ( ar, جمال الغيطانى, ; 9 May 1945 – 18 October 2015) was an Egyptian author of historical and political novels and cultural and political commentaries and was the editor-in-chief of the literary periodical ''Akhbar Al-Adab'' ("Cultural News") till 2011. Life and works Gamal al-Ghitani was born in Juhaynah, Sohag Governorate in Upper Egypt and moved with his family to Cairo as a child. He began writing at a young age and had his first short story published when he was only 14. He was originally trained to be a carpet designer and received his diploma in 1962. He continued to write on the side and was imprisoned from October 1966 through March 1967 for his critical commentary on the regime of Gamal Abd el-Nasser. In 1969 he switched careers and became a journalist for the Egyptian newspaper ''Akhbar El Yom'' ("The Day's News"). After becoming a journalist, al-Ghitani continued to write historical fiction, and many of his stories are set in Cairo. H ...
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Ahmed Alaidy
Ahmed Alaidy, أحمد العايدي , is an Egyptian novelist, scriptwriter, Director, poet, editor, and Comics Writer born on December 24, 1974. He is the author of the novel Being Abbas El Abd (2006), (An Takoun Abbas El Abd) (2003), أن تكون عباس العبد . He studied marketing at Cairo University, and has worked as a scriptwriter on quiz shows and for the cinema, and as a writer of satirical stories for young people and a book designer. He wrote a political comic strip, and poems for an Egyptian opposition weekly newspaper al-Dostour, الدستور المصرية . Alaidy has participated in international writers’ programs at Iowa University and at Hong Kong Baptist University. He has previously published a long short story. Classified as a Minimalist writer, and a student of the famous American novelist Chuck Palahniuk which he had received an intensive course in minimalism writing through the Internet. Directing Directing NETFLIX's featurettBehind the ...
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Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha ( arz, نجيب محفوظ عبد العزيز ابراهيم احمد الباشا, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. Mahfouz is regarded as one of the first contemporary writers in the Arabic literature, along with Taha Hussein, to explore themes of existentialism. He is the only Egyptian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. He published 35 novels, over 350 short stories, 26 screenplays, hundreds of op-ed columns for Egyptian newspapers, and seven plays over a 70-year career, from the 1930s until 2004. All of his novels take place in Egypt, and always mentions the lane, which equals the world. His most famous works include '' The Cairo Trilogy'' and ''Children of Gebelawi''. Many of Mahfouz's works have been made into Egyptian and foreign films; no Arab writer exceeds Mahfouz in number of works that have been adapted for cinema and television. While Mahf ...
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Banipal
''Banipal'' is an independent literary magazine dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Arab literature through translations in English. It was founded in London in 1998 by Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon. The magazine is published three times a year. Since its inception, it has published works and interviews of numerous Arab authors and poets, many of them translated for the first time into English. It is also co-sponsor of the Saif Ghobash–Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation. As of December 2020, 69 issues of ''Banipal'' were published. Each issue usually focuses on a specific theme, recent issues focusing on Libyan fiction, Arab American authors, Iraqi authors, Literature in Yemen Today, Writing in Dutch, etc. The magazine has been praised both by non-Arab and Arab commentators - Gamal el-Ghitani, James Kirkup, Anton Shammas among others - for its role in diffusing Arab literature to a wider audience. The Iraqi poet, novelist and translator Fadhil Al Azzawi ha ...
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Words Without Borders
''Words Without Borders'' (''WWB'') is an international magazine open to international exchange through translation, publication, and promotion of the world's best writing and authors who are not easily accessible to English-speaking readers. The first issue appeared in July–August 2003. Translation and knowledge ''Words Without Borders'' promotes cultural understanding through the translation, publication, and promotion of the finest contemporary international literature. It publishes a monthly magazine of literature in translation and organizes special events that connect foreign writers to the public; it also develops materials for high school and college teachers and provides an online resource center for contemporary global writing. Words without Borders is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and the Lannan Foundation, among others. Words without Borders was founded by Alane Salierno Mason, translator of Elio Vittorini, in ...
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American University In Cairo Press
The American University in Cairo Press (AUCP, AUC Press) is the leading English-language publisher in the Middle East. The largest translator of Arabic literature in the world, AUC Press has a reputation for carefully selecting and translating the best writing being produced in the language today. They are the publisher of the Nobel prize winning Egyptian novelist, Naguib Mahfouz. History The American University in Cairo Press was founded in 1960. It is an independent publisher with close ties to the American University in Cairo (AUC). Its offices are in the heart of the Egyptian capital, overlooking the historic downtown landmark, Tahrir Square. Its first publications in 1961 were K.A.C. Creswell’s ''A Bibliography of the Architecture, Arts and Crafts of Islam'', (AUC Press, 1961), Otto F.A. Meinardus’s ''Monks and Monasteries of the Egyptian Deserts'' (AUC Press, 1961), Edward B. Savage's ''The Rose and the Vine: A Study of the Evolution of the Tristan and Isolt Tale ...
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Banipal Prize For Arabic Literary Translation
The Banipal Prize, whose full name is the Saif Ghobash–Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, is an annual prize awarded to a translator (or translators) for the published English translation of a full-length literary work in the Arabic language. The prize was inaugurated in 2006 by the literary magazine ''Banipal'' which promotes the diffusion of contemporary Arabic literature through English translations and the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature. It is administered by the Society of Authors in the UK (which runs a number of similar literary translation prizes), and the prize money is sponsored by Omar Saif Ghobash and his family in memory of Ghobash's late father Saif Ghobash. As of 2009, the prize money amounted to £3000. Winners and nominees = winner 2006 * Humphrey Davies: ''Gate of the Sun'' by Elias Khoury * Hala Halim: ''Clamor of the Lake'' by Mohamed el-Bisatie *Paul Starkey: ''Stones of Bobello'' by Edwar al-Kharrat Judges: Moris Farhi, Maya Jaggi, Ro ...
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English PEN
Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' association with 145 centres in more than 100 countries. The current President of English PEN is Philippe Sands. The Director is Daniel Gorman. English PEN celebrates the diversity of literature and envisions a world with free expression and equity of opportunity for all by supporting writers at risk and campaigning for freedom of expression nationally and internationally. English PEN also hosts events and prizes to champion international literature, showcase the diversity of writing, and celebrate literary courage. By supporting literature in translation into English and developing opportunities for publishers, translators and translated voices, English PEN aims to encourage diversity in the literary landscape. History English PEN was foun ...
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Elias Khoury
Elias Khoury ( ar, إلياس خوري; born 12 July 1948) is a Lebanese novelist, and prominent public intellectual. Accordingly, he has published myriad novels related to literary criticism, which have been translated into several foreign languages, including English. Khoury has also written three plays and two screenplays. Khoury has been an editor of famous Lebanese newspapers. Between 1993 and 2009, he served as an editor of ''Al-Mulhaq'', the weekly cultural supplement of the Lebanese daily newspaper '' Al-Nahar.'' He also taught at universities in some Arab and European countries, and the United States. Biography Early life Elias Khoury was born in 1948 into a Greek Orthodox middle-class family in the predominantly Christian Ashrafiyye district of Beirut. He was a left-handed and never liked being one. At the age of 8, he started enjoying Jurji Zaydan's readings which, later on, taught him more about Islam and his Arabic background. Eventually, Elias stopped reading ...
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Alaa Al-Aswany
Alaa Al Aswany ( ar, علاء الأسواني, ; born 26 May 1957) is an Egyptian writer, novelist, and a founding member of the political movement Kefaya. Early life and career Al Aswany was born on 26 May 1957 in Cairo. His mother, Zainab, came from an aristocratic family; her uncle was a Pasha and Minister of Education before the Egyptian Revolution of 1952. His father, Abbas Al Aswany, was from Aswan (in Lower Nubia) and was a lawyer and writer who "is remembered as being a captivating and charismatic speaker with a broad following and loyalty within a cross-section of the Egyptian revolutionary intelligentsia". Abbas Al Aswany wrote a regular back-page essay in the Egyptian weekly magazine Rose al-Yūsuf entitled ''Aswaaniyat''. In 1972, he was "the recipient of the state award for literature". He died when Alaa was 19 years old. Al Aswany attended Le Lycée Français in Cairo and received a bachelor's degree in dental and oral medicine at Cairo University in 1980. He ...
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