Samah Selim is an Egyptian 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 ...

. She studied English literature at

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

, and obtained her PhD from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1997. At present she is an associate professor at the Department of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian Languages and Literatures at

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

. She has also taught at Columbia,

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ni ...

and Aix-en-Provence universities. Selim is the author of ''The Novel and the Rural Imaginary in Egypt, 1880-1985'' (2004). She won the 2009 Banipal Prize for her translation of

Yahya Taher Abdullah Yahya Taher Abdullah (Arabic: يحيى الطاهر عبد الله) (1942–1981) was an Egyptian writer. Biography Abdullah born in Karnak in 1942. He grew up in Upper Egypt, but moved to Cairo in 1964. One of the first to recognize his talent ...

's ''The Collar and the Bracelet''. She has also translated ''Neighborhood and Boulevard: Reading through the Modern Arab City'' by the Lebanese writer Khaled Ziadeh, and ''Memories of a Meltdown: An Egyptian Between Moscow and Chernobyl'' by Mohamed Makhzangi. Future releases include a translation of Miral al-Tahawy's ''Brooklyn Heights'' (end of 2011). In 2011, Selim won the Arkansas Arabic Translation Award for her translation of

Jurji Zaydan Jurji Zaydan ( ar, جرجي زيدان, ; December 14, 1861 – July 21, 1914) was a prolific Lebanese novelist, journalist, editor and teacher, most noted for his creation of the magazine '' Al-Hilal'', which he used to serialize his twenty thr ...

's novel ''Shajarat al-Durr'', based on the life of the Mamluk sultana. She thus became the first person to win both the Banipal Prize and the Arkansas Prize for Arabic literary translation.

Bibliography

Author

* ''The Novel and the Rural Imaginary in Egypt, 1880-1985''

Translator

, ''The Collar and the Bracelet'' (2009 Banipal Prize winner) * Khaled Ziadeh, ''Neighborhood and Boulevard: Reading through the Modern Arab City'' * Mohamed Makhzangi, ''Memories of a Meltdown: An Egyptian Between Moscow and Chernobyl'' *

, ''Shajarat al-Durr'' (2011 Arkansas Award winner) * Miral al-Tahawy, ''Brooklyn Heights''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selim, Samah Egyptian scholars Arabic–English translators Egyptian translators Barnard College alumni Columbia University faculty Rutgers University faculty Princeton University faculty Academic staff of the University of Provence Living people Year of birth missing (living people)

Bibliography

Author

Translator

See also

References