Nael Eltoukhy (born 1978) is an

Egyptian Egyptian describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of years of ...

author, columnist and translator. Eltoukhy has published two novellas and three novels in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

, including ''Al Alfen wa seta'' (''Two Thousand and Six'', 2009) and ''Nisaa Al Karantina'' (''Women of Karantina'', 2013,) which Mahmoud El-Wardani called "a new twist in the evolution of the form of the Egyptian novel itself." The latter has been translated into English by

Robin Moger Robin Moger is a British translator of Arabic literature. His translations include: * Ahmed Mourad - ''Vertigo'' * Hamdi Abu Golayel - ''A Dog With No Tail'' * Maan Abu Taleb - ''All The Battles'' * Mohammad Rabie - ''Otared'' * Nael Eltouk ...

, who also translated an extract of Eltoukhy's third novel, ''Out of the Gutter'' (2018). Eltoukhy has also translated two books from

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

to Arabic, while his columns and short stories have appeared in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

Mada Masr ''Mada Masr'' ( ar, مدى مصر) is an independent Egyptian online newspaper, founded in June 2013 by former journalists of the English-language newspaper ''Egypt Independent'' following the shutting down of its editorial operations in April 20 ...

Al-Safir ''As-Safir'' ( ar, السفير, lit=The Ambassador), was a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper in Lebanon. The headquarters of the daily was in Beirut. It was in circulation from March 1974 until December 2016. The last issue of the paper wa ...

, among others.

Early life and education

Eltoukhy was born in

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

, and studied

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 ...

Translations of Hebrew

Eltoukhy's passion for Hebrew is “rare” by his own admission, among students of the language in Arab universities. He was curious about Hebrew because he felt

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Wester ...

didn't know anything about

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

from the inside. However, earlier on Eltoukhy had wanted to study

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, but his grades were not high enough, so he chose to study Hebrew instead. Eltoukhy went on to translate provocative Israeli authors, such as late playwright

Hanoch Levin Hanoch Levin ( he, חנוך לוין; December 18, 1943 – August 18, 1999) was an Israeli dramatist, theater director, author and poet, best known for his plays. His absurdist style is often compared to the work of Harold Pinter and Samuel Bec ...

, who Eltoukhy mentions as his dream, as well as

Idith Zertal Idith Zertal (born 1945) is an Israeli historian, considered one of the "New Historians". Career After a career in journalism, Zertal began a career as a professor of history and cultural anthropology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has ...

’s ''Israel’s Holocaust and the Politics of Nationhood'', and Almog Behar's ''Chahla ve-Hezkel'' (Rachel and Ezekiel). According to Eltoukhy, it is easy to publish Hebrew to Arabic translations in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, however the problem lies with publishers not wanting to pay royalties to an Israeli publisher as it would be seen as a form of normalization. Therefore, he has worked with younger authors that are willing to give up their royalties to circumvent the politics.

References

External links

Nael Eltoukhy personal blog
(includes an archive of published articles)
Hakaza tahadath Cohen (Thus spoke Cohen)
Collection of writings translated from Hebrew to Arabic. Mada Masr - contributions i
English
an
Arabic
21st-century Egyptian writers 1978 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Ain Shams University alumni Egyptian male writers {{Egypt-writer-stub