Hartmut Fähndrich (born 14 October 1944) is a German scholar and translator, specialising in translation of

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( / 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 (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...

into German. He was born in

Tübingen Tübingen (; ) is a traditional college town, university city in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated south of the state capital, Stuttgart, and developed on both sides of the Neckar and Ammer (Neckar), Ammer rivers. about one in ...

and studied at the universities of Tübingen,

Münster Münster (; ) is an independent city#Germany, independent city (''Kreisfreie Stadt'') in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is in the northern part of the state and is considered to be the cultural centre of the Westphalia region. It is also a ...

, and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. He obtained an MA in

comparative literature Comparative literature studies is an academic field dealing with the study of literature and cultural expression across language, linguistic, national, geographic, and discipline, disciplinary boundaries. Comparative literature "performs a role ...

and a PhD in Islamic studies from UCLA. In 1972, he moved to Switzerland where he has lived ever since. He has taught at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

and the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology The Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology are two institutes of higher education in Switzerland (part of the ETH Domain): * Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Sw ...

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

. Fähndrich has translated more than 50 book-length works and numerous other shorter pieces. His first translated work was ''Wild Thorns'' (German title: ''Der Feigenkaktus'') by

Sahar Khalifeh Sahar Khalifeh (; born 1941) is a Palestinians, 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 novel ''Wil ...

in 1983. Since then he has translated books by many of the most important Arabic writers, from

Naguib Mahfouz Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha (, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described him as a writer "who, through wo ...

Alaa al-Aswany Alaa Al Aswany (, ; born 26 May 1957) is an Egyptian writer, novelist, dentist and a founding member of the political movement Kefaya. He is based in Paris and New York where lives and teaches creative writing. Early life and career Al Aswan ...

. A partial list of these writers is provided below; the full list can be foun
here (PDF)
Fähndrich has received numerous awards for his work, including several from the city of

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, one from the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

in 2004, from Egypt's Supreme Council of Culture in 2006, and the

Saudi King Abdullah International Award for Translation King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Award for Translation (previously Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Award for Translation (2008-2014)) is a Saudi international literary award for the translation o ...

in 2009, the world's richest translation prize. Of the Saudi award, Fähndrich said that only a fraction of the prize money he was supposed to have shared with an Arab colleague has arrived so far (as of October 2012), Fähndrich said "I feel I've been cheated". Fähndrich was also a member of the IPAF jury in 2008.

Translated authors

* Abdel Hakim Qasem * Abdelkader al-Janabi *

Abdelrahman Munif Abdul Rahman bin Ibrahim al-Munif (; May 29, 1933 – January 24, 2004), also known as Abdelrahman Munif, was a novelist, short story writer, memoirist, journalist, thinker, and cultural critic. He is considered one of the most significant a ...

Azmi Bishara Azmi Bishara ( born 22 July 1956) is an Arab-Israeli public intellectual, political philosopher and author. He is presently the General Director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of th ...

Edwar al-Kharrat Edwar al-Kharrat (‎; 16 March 1926 – 1 December 2015) was an Egyptian novelist, writer and critic. Early life He was born in Alexandria to a Coptic Christian family. He studied law at Alexandria University and worked briefly in banking an ...

* Emile Habiby *

Emily Nasrallah Emily Daoud Nasrallah (; []; 6 July 1931 – 13 March 2018) was a Lebanese people, Lebanese writer and women's rights activist. She graduated from the Beirut College for Women (now the Lebanese American University) with an associate degree in ...

Gamal al-Ghitani Gamal al-Ghitani (, ; 9 May 1945 – 18 October 2015) was an Egyptian author of historical and political novels and cultural and political commentaries and was the editor-in-chief of the literary periodical '' Akhbar Al-Adab'' ("Cultural News") ...

Ghassan Kanafani Ghassan Fayiz Kanafani (; 8 April 1936 – 8 July 1972) was a prominent Palestinian literature, Palestinian author and Palestinian militant, militant, considered to be a leading novelist of his generation and one of the Arab world's leading Pa ...

* Hamida Naana *

Hanan al-Shaykh Hanan al-Shaykh (; born 12 November 1945) is a Lebanese author of contemporary literature. Biography Hanan al-Shaykh was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1945, into a strict Shi'a family. Her father and brother exerted strict social control over ...

* Hassan Daoud * Hassan Nasr * Ibrahim al-Koni * Iman Humaydan-Yunus * Khaled Ziadeh *

Latifa al-Zayyat Latifa al-Zayyat (; 8 August 1923 – 10 September 1996) was an Egyptian activist and writer, most famous for her novel '' The Open Door'', which won the inaugural Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature. Biography Al Zayyat was born in Dumyat, E ...

May Telmissany May Telmissany (Arabic : مي التلمساني) (born 1 July 1965) is an Egyptian-Canadians, Canadian novelist, translator, film critic and academic. She teaches Arabic studies and cinema at the University of Ottawa in Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, C ...

* Mohammad al-Bisatie * Muhammad al-Machsangi * Muhammad Mustagab *

* Rashid al-Daif *

Salwa Bakr Salwa Bakr (; born 1949) is an Egyptian critic, novelist and author. Profile of the Egyptian Writer Salwa Bakr She is the author of seven volumes of short stories (including ''The Wiles of Men'', AUC Press, 1997), seven novels, and a play. Her wor ...

Sinan Antoon Sinan Antoon () is an Iraqi poet, novelist, scholar, and literary translator. He has been described as "one of the most acclaimed authors of the Arab world." Alberto Manguel described him as "one of the great fiction writers of our time.” He is ...

Sonallah Ibrahim Son'allah Ibrahim ( ''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 views which are expressed rather directly in his work. His novels, es ...

Yahya Taher Abdullah Yahya Taher Abdullah ( ; 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 talents was the writer and editor Edwar al-Kharrat ...

Yusuf Idris Yusuf Idris, also spelled Yusof Idris (; May 19, 1927 – August 1, 1991) was an Egyptian writer of plays, short stories, and novels. Biography Idris was born in Faqous. He originally trained to be a doctor, studying at Cairo University. He ...

Zakaria Tamer Zakaria Tamer (; born January 2, 1931), also spelled Zakariya Tamir, is a Syrian short story writer. He is one of the most widely read and translated short story writers of modern Syrian literature, as well as one of the foremost authors of chi ...

External links

Official website

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahndrich, Hartmut 1944 births German translators German–Arabic translators Living people People from Tübingen German male non-fiction writers Translators from Arabic