Kareem James Abu-Zeid (born 1981) is an Egyptian-American translator, editor, and writer. He was born in Kuwait and grew up in the Middle East. He studied French and German language and literature at Princeton University, taking translation workshops under poets CK Williams and Paul Muldoon, and graduating ''summa cum laude'' in 2003. He then lived an itinerant life around Europe and the Middle East for several years, before moving to California for graduate studies. He obtained a master's degree and a PhD in comparative literature from UC Berkeley, with a dissertation focusing on modern poetry as spiritual practice. Following his PhD, he resumed a nomadic lifestyle for several more years, spending significant periods of time in southern India, before finally settling in New Mexico. He has taught university courses in writing, language, literature, and philosophy in four different languages at Berkeley, Mannheim and Heidelberg, and currently works as a freelance translator from Arabic, French, and German into English, as well as a freelance editor of English-language texts. He also does a significant amount of work editing the translations of other translators, and currently serves as a mentor for emerging translators with the American Literary Translators Association. A highly regarded translator of

modern Arabic literature The instance that marked the shift in the whole of Arabic literature towards modern Arabic literature can be attributed to the Arab World-West contact during the 19th and early 20th century. This contact resulted in the gradual replacement of Clas ...

, Abu-Zeid has the following books to his name: * ''Exhausted on the Cross'' by

Najwan Darwish Najwan Darwish ( ar, نجوان درويش); born December 8, 1978, in Jerusalem, is a Palestinian poet. The New York Review of Books has described him as "one of the foremost Arabic-language poets of his generation". In 2014, NPR included his ...

(NYRB Poets, 2021), foreword by

Raúl Zurita Raúl Zurita Canessa (born 1950) is a Chilean poet. He won the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 2000. Biography Raúl Zurita was born in Santiago de Chile in 1950, where he spent his childhood and school years. In 1967 he began his stud ...

. *''Songs of Mihyar the Damascene'' by Adunis (New Directions, 2019; Penguin Modern Classics, 2021), co-translated with Ivan Eubanks * ''Confessions'' by

Rabee Jaber Rabee Jaber ( ar, ربيع جابر; born 1972) is a Lebanese novelist and journalist, born in Beirut, Lebanon. Life Jaber studied Physics at the American University of Beirut (AUB). He is also editor of ''Afaaq'' (in Arabic آفاق meaning ...

(New Directions, 2016), winner o
PEN Center USA's Translation Prize
and finalist for the PEN Translation Prize * ''Nothing More to Lose: Selected Poems'' by

(New York Review Books, 2014), winner of the Northern California Book Award, longlisted for the National Translation Award and the Best Translated Book Award. * ''The Iraqi Nights'' by

Dunya Mikhail Dunya Mikhail (born 1965 in Baghdad, Iraq) is an Iraqi-American poet based in the United States. Life She was born and raised in Iraq to a Chaldean-Catholic family. She graduated with a BA from the University of Baghdad. Mikhail worked as a jo ...

(New Directions, 2014) * ''The Mehlis Report'' by

(New Directions, 2013) * ''The Palm House'' by

Tarek Eltayeb Tarek Eltayeb (born 2 January 1959) is an Egyptian- Sudanese writer. He was born to Sudanese parents in Cairo, and has been a resident of the Austrian capital Vienna since 1984. He studied Social and Economic Sciences at the Vienna University of E ...

(AUC Press, 2012) * ''Cities without Palms'' by

(AUC Press, 2009, runner-up for the

Banipal Prize 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 Arab ...

) He contributes regularly to literary journals and websites such as '' Words Without Borders'', ''

Guernica Guernica (, ), official name (reflecting the Basque language) Gernika (), is a town in the province of Biscay, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, Spain. The town of Guernica is one part (along with neighbouring Lumo) of the mu ...

'', and ''

Three Percent 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 n ...

''. He was the winner of PEN Center USA's 2017 Translation Prize. He has received a National Endowment for the Arts translation grant, literary residencies from the Lannan Foundation and the Banff Centre for the Arts, as well as Poetry magazine's 2014 translation prize, a Fulbright Fellowship and Fulbright Enterprise Scholarship in 2003/4 in Germany, and a CASA Fellowship at the American University in Cairo.Bio 2
/ref> His personal website i
www.kareemjamesabuzeid.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abu-Zeid, Kareem James 21st-century American translators 1981 births Living people Princeton University alumni UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni Immigrants to the United States