Reem Bassiouney ( arz, ريم بسيونى ' ; March 6, 1973) is an Egyptian

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, professor of

sociolinguistics Sociolinguistics is the descriptive study of the effect of any or all aspects of society, including cultural Norm (sociology), norms, expectations, and context (language use), context, on the way language is used, and society's effect on languag ...

and Chair Department of Applied Linguistics at

The American University in Cairo The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning programs ...

. In Addition, Bassiouney is the editor of the Routledge Series of Language and Identity. She is also the editor and creator of the journal Arabic Sociolinguistics Edinburgh. She has written several novels and a number of short stories and won the 2009 Sawiris Foundation Literary Prize for Young Writers for her novel ''Dr. Hanaa''. While a substantial amount of her fiction has yet to be translated into English, her novel ''The Pistachio Seller'' was published by

Syracuse University Press Syracuse University Press, founded in 1943, is a university press that is part of Syracuse University. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. History SUP was formed in August 1943 when president William P. Tolley pro ...

in 2009, and won the 2009 King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies Translation of Arabic Literature Award. Bassiouney also won Naguib Mahfouz Award from Egypt's Supreme Council for Culture in the best Egyptian novel category for her best selling novel, The Mamluk Trilogy. She was also the winner of the National Prize for Excellence in Literature of the year 2022 from the Egyptian Ministry of Culture.

Education and career

Reem Bassiouney was born in Alexandria in 1973. She attended

El Nasr Girls' College El Nasr Girls' College (EGC) ( ar, كلية النصر للبنات) is a school in Shatby, Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1935, and was originally known as ''English Girls College''. History The college was founded in 1935 to comme ...

, and studied English literature at

Alexandria University Alexandria University ( ar, جامعة الإسكندرية) is a public university in Alexandria, Egypt. It was established in 1938 as a satellite of Fouad University (the name of which was later changed to Cairo University), becoming an indepen ...

. After graduating, she was appointed at the University, but decided to pursue her studies abroad. She was accepted for a graduate degree in linguistics at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where she became a member of

Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, ...

. She obtained her doctorate from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, and worked briefly in the UK, before moving to the United States, where she was appointed professor of linguistics at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

. From there she moved to

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

and then returned to her native Egypt when she joined the faculty of

in 2013. She has written several fictional works and multiple books on Arabic linguistics/sociolinguistics.

Bibliography

Fiction

* ''The Smell of the Sea'', 2005. رائحة البحر. * ''The Pistachio Seller'', 2007. بائع الفستق. English translation, 2009. Winner of the 2009 King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies Translation of Arabic Literature Award. * ''Dr. Hanaa'', 2008. دكتورة هناء. Winner of the 2009 Sawiris Foundation Literary Prize for Young Writers. English translation, 2011. Spanish and Greek translation. *''Love, Arab style'', 2009. الحب على الطريقة العربية. *''Mortal Designs'', 2010. أشياء رائعة. *''The Tour Guide'', 2010. مرشد سياحي. *''The Mamluk Trilogy'', 2018. اولاد الناس: ثلاثية المماليك. Best seller and winner of the 2019- 2020 Naguib Mahfouz Award in the best Egyptian novel category from Egypt's Supreme. Council for Culture. English Translation, 2022 *Fountain of the Drowning: The Path of Land and Sea, 2020. سبيل الغارق الطريق والبحر. English Translation. (translated by Roger Allen as ''Al-Qata'i Ibn Tulun's City Without Walls'' ) *Ibn Tulun Trilogy, 2021 القطائع ثلاثية ابن طولون *The Fatimid Trilogy, 2022 الحلواني ثلاثية الفاطميين

Academic Books

*''Functions of Code-Switching in Egypt'', 2006. *''Arabic Sociolinguistics'', 2009. *''Arabic and the Media: Linguistic Analyses and Applications,'' 2010. Edited volume. *''Arabic Language and Linguistics'', 2012. Edited volume. *''Language and Identity in Modern Egypt'', 2014.

References

External links

public profile on university websitepublic profile on Academia.edu
Living people Georgetown University people Egyptian novelists Egyptian expatriates in the United States 1973 births Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford University of Utah faculty {{egypt-bio-stub