May Telmissany (Arabic : مي التلمساني) (born 1 July 1965) is an Egyptian-

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

novelist, translator, film critic and academic. She now teaches Arabic studies and cinema at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Canada.

Biography

May Telmissany was born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

, Egypt, on 1 July 1965. She is the daughter of Egyptian documentary pioneer Abdel-Kader El-Telmissany (1924-2003). She studied

French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than Fr ...

Ain Shams University Ain Shams University ( ar, جامعة عين شمس) is a public university located in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 1950, the university provides education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. History Ain Shams University was fou ...

. She worked for several years in the French Service of Radio Cairo and in the Arts Faculty at

Menoufia University Menoufia University is one of the regional universities in Egypt, established in 1976. The university is characterized by rapid establishment and wide fame. The university started with four colleges (the College of Agriculture, the College of Engin ...

. She also lived for a time in Paris. In 1995, she obtained a master's degree in French literature from

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

. She moved to Canada in 1998 for her doctoral studies, eventually completing her PhD in 2007 from the

University of Montreal A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

under a CIDA scholarship. She has since taught at the universities of Montréal, Concordia,

McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to: People * McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname) * McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...

and

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

.Biographical details in author's website
/ref> Her first novel ''

Dunyazad This is a list of characters in ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ''The Arabian Nights''), the classic, medieval collection of Middle East, Middle-Eastern Folklore, folk tales. Characters in the frame story Scheherazade Scheherazade or Shahraz ...

'' (1997) was critically acclaimed and translated into French, English, Spanish and German. ''Dunyazad'' won the 2002 Ulysses Prize for best first novel in France and the 2002 State Prize for best autobiographical novel in Egypt. Her second novel ''Heliopolis'' came out in 2001, and it was translated into French in 2002. In 2009, she published a collection of fragments on her experience in Canada and her successive returns to Egypt, titled ''Lel-Ganna Sour'' (The Paradise Has a Fence). In 2012, she published her third novel, ''A Capella''. Telmissany has also written on a wide range of scholarly interests, e.g. essays, articles and book chapters on cinema, photography, literature and Cairo culture. Along with

Robert Solé Robert Solé (born 1946) is a French journalist and novelist of Egyptian origin. Born in Cairo in 1946, Solé moved to France at the age of 18. He has served as ombudsman of the Parisian newspaper ''Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily ...

and Mercédès Volait, she has co-edited a book of memoirs on the Cairo suburb of Heliopolis. Her doctoral dissertation on the concept of neighbourhoods in

Egyptian cinema The cinema of Egypt refers to the flourishing film industry based in Cairo, sometimes also referred to as Hollywood on the Nile. Since 1976, the capital has held the annual Cairo International Film Festival, which has been accredited by the Intern ...

has been translated into Arabic and published in Cairo. She has also done extensive translations from French and English to Arabic.

Selected works

Literary

*1995 : ''Repetitive Sculptures'', Cairo: Dar Sharquiat (Short Stories in Arabic) 102 p. *1999 : ''Mental Betrayals'', Cairo: Cultural Palaces Publications (Short Stories in Arabic) 125 p. *1997 : ''Doniazade'', Cairo: Dar Sharquiat (Novel, 1st edition) 65 p. *2001 : ''Dunyazad'', Al-Adab, Beyrouth. (Novel, 2nd edition) 82 p. 1999-2000: ''Doniazade'' (Novel - translated into six European languages: French by Mona Latif-Ghattas, Paris: Actes Sud; English by Roger Allen, London: Saqi Books; Dutch by Djûke Poppinga, Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Elmar; German by Hartmut Fähendrich, Basel: Lenos Verlag; Spanish by Gozalo Fernando Parillas and Catalan by Joana Hernandez). *2003 : ''Heliopolis'', Cairo: General Egyptian Book Organization. (Novel, 2nd edition) 167 p. 2002: Héliopolis, Paris: Actes-Sud (Novel, translated to French by Mona Latif-Ghattas) 150 p. 2000: Heliopolis, Cairo: Dar Sharquiat (Novel, 1st edition) 167 p. *2009 : ''Lel Ganah Sour'' (The Paradise Has a Fence. Writings on Exile), Cairo: Dar Sharquiat, 164 p. *2012 : ''A Capella'', Cairo: Dar Sharquiat, 151 p.

Translations

*1991 - 1996 : Five literary books simplified for adolescent readers, published in the collection ''The Classics of World Literature'', Cairo: General Book Organization. *1994 : ''Trois Pièces de Théâtre'' (Fernando Arrabal), Cairo: Academy of the Arts Publications (translated in collaboration with Faten Anwar), 143p. *1994 : ''Les Cinémas Arabes'' (Mouny Berrah), Cairo: General Book Organization, 219 p. *1996 : ''Pratiques du Montage'' (Albert Jurgensen), Cairo: Academy of Arts Publications, 176 p. *1997 : ''Reading Theatre I'' (Ann Ubersfeld), Cairo: Academy of Arts Publications, 225 p. *2000 : ''Why Read the Classics?'' (Italo Calvino), Cairo : Organization of Cultural Palaces Publications, 153 p. *2000 : ''Les Grandes Écoles Esthétiques'' (Alain and Odette Virmaux), Cairo : High Council of Culture Publications, 217 p. *2005 : ''Momo et Loulou'' (Mona Latif-Ghattas & Lise Desjardins), Cairo: Dar El Nashr Horizons (in collaboration with Walid El Khachab), 107 p. *2007 : ''Le livre ailé'' (Mona Latif-Ghattas), Cairo: Dar El Nashr Horizons, (Poetry), 70 p.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Telmissany, May 1965 births Living people Writers from Cairo Egyptian novelists Egyptian women short story writers Egyptian short story writers Ain Shams University alumni Cairo University alumni Université de Montréal alumni Université de Montréal faculty Concordia University faculty McGill University faculty Egyptian women writers