Paul Starkey is a British scholar and translator of

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( ar, الأدب العربي / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is '' Adab'', which is derived from ...

Life and career

Starkey received his doctorate from

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

; the subject of his dissertation was the works of the

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 Medit ...

ian writer Tawfiq Hakim. He is

emeritus professor ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

of the Arabic department at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

and was also co-director of the Centre for Advanced Study of the Arab World (CASAW), a collaborative project by the Universities of Edinburgh, Durham and Manchester. Starkey is the author of ''Modern Arabic Literature'' (2006), a survey of the field. He has also edited a number of books, contributed book chapters, and written essays, scholarly articles and monographs. He is a specialist on the Sixties Generation of Egyptian writers, in particular

Sonallah Ibrahim Son'allah Ibrahim ( ar, صنع الله إبراهيم ''Ṣunʻ Allāh Ibrāhīm'') (born 1937) is an Egyptian novelist and short story writer and one of the " Sixties Generation" who is known for his leftist and nationalist views which are exp ...

and Edwar al-Kharrat. Starkey has translated several contemporary Arabic novels, including works by Edwar al-Kharrat and Mansoura Ez-Eldin. His translations have been published in ''

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 ti ...

'' magazine and he has also served on the judging panel of the

International Prize for Arabic Fiction The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) ( ar, الجائزة العالمية للرواية العربية) is the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic ...

Select bibliography

As author

* ''Modern Arabic Literature'' (2006)

As editor

* ''Egypt Through the Eyes of Travellers'', 2002 (co-edited with Nadia El Kholy) * ''Interpreting the Orient: Travellers in Egypt and the Near East'', vol 2, 2001 (with Janet Starkey) * ''Unfolding the Orient: Travellers in Egypt and the Near East'', 2001 (with Janet Starkey) * ''Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature'' (two volumes), 1998 (with Julie Scott Meisami) * ''Travellers in Egypt'', 1998 (with Janet Starkey)

As translator

* ''Dear Mr Kawabata'' by Rachid al-Daif * ''Maryam's Maze'' by Mansoura Ez-Eldin * ''Shumaisi'' by Turki Al-Hamad * ''Stones of Bobello'' by Edwar Al-Kharrat * ''We Are All Equally Far from Love'' by Adania Shibli *''The Drowning'' by

Hammour Ziada Hammour Ziada ( ar, حمور زيادة, born 1979) is a Sudanese writer and journalist, born in Omdurman. He has worked as a civil society and human rights researcher, and currently works as journalist in Cairo. Before, he had been writing for a ...

* ? East Winds, West Winds by Mahdī ʻĪsá Ṣaqr. American University in Cairo Press 2010.

References