Paula Haydar (born 1965) is an American academic and translator. She has a PhD in

Comparative literature Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across linguistic, national, geographic, and disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role similar to that of the study ...

and an MFA in

Literary translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...

. She won an Arkansas Arabic Translation Prize for her translation of Elias Khoury's ''The Kingdom of Strangers''. Her work has appeared 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 she has translated the literary work of

Jabbour Douaihy Jabbour Douaihy (; 1949 – 23 June 2021) was a critically-acclaimed Lebanese writer, translator, and professor of literature. His novels were nominated four times for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, and he has also published transl ...

Rachid Al-Daif Rashid El Daif (Arabic: رشيد الضعيف) (or Rasheed Al-Daif, Rachid El-Daïf, Rachid Al-Daif) (born 6 August 1945) is a Lebanese poet and novelist. He has been translated into 14 languages. He has been referred to as "the Arab world's answe ...

and others.

Education

Haydar obtained a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in physics in 1987 and an M.Ed from the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, ...

in 1991. She then earned a MFA in literary translation from the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

in 1998. She received a PhD, from the

in 2014.

Career

Haydar taught Arabic at the University of Massachusetts before joining the faculty at the university of Arkansas in 2006. She works in the Department of World Languages, Literatures, and Cultures as an Assistant Professor of Arabic. She won the Arkansas Arabic Translation Prize for her translation of Elias Khoury's ''The Kingdom of Strangers''. Her work has appeared in two issues of ''

'' magazine (1998, 2008). Paula Haydar's English translation of the novel '' June Rain'' earned her second place for the 2014 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize. The Beirut Daily Star also recognized the translation in a year-end book review list of the six Top Middle East Novels of 2014 in translation. Haydar has translated novels, short stories, and poetry from Arabic to English. Her book length translations include: * ''The Kingdom of Strangers'' by

Elias Khoury Elias Khoury ( ar, إلياس خوري; born 12 July 1948) is a Lebanon, Lebanese novelist, and prominent public intellectual. Accordingly, he has published myriad novels related to literary criticism, which have been translated into several fore ...

(1996) * ''Learning English'' by

(1998) * ''This Side of Innocence'' by Rachid Al-Daif (2001) * ''June Rain'' by

(2006) * ''Touch'' by

Adania Shibli Adania Shibli ( ar, عدنية شبلي) is a Palestinian author and essayist. She was born in Palestine in 1974. Personal life and education Shibli holds a Ph.D. from the University of East London in Media and Cultural Studies. Her disserta ...

(2013)(2007) * ''The End of Spring'' by

Sahar Khalifeh Sahar Khalifeh ( ar, سحر خليفة) (born 1941) is a Palestinian writer. She has written eleven novels, which have been translated into English, French, Hebrew, German, Spanish, and many other languages. One of her best-known works is the nov ...

(2008) * ''City Gates'' by Elias Khoury (also translated as ''Gates of the City'') (2007) * ''The Journey of Little Gandhi'', by Elias Khoury (2009)

Personal life

She is married to fellow academic Adnan Haydar and lives in Fayetteville,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

. Their son Fuad "Kikko" Haydar played basketball for the

Arkansas Razorbacks The Arkansas Razorbacks, also known as the Hogs, are the intercollegiate athletics teams representing the University of Arkansas, located in Fayetteville. The University of Arkansas student body voted to change the name of the school mascot (ori ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haydar, Paula Arabic–English translators Living people University of Arkansas faculty 1965 births

Education

Career

Personal life

See also

References