Margaret Obank

Last updated

Margaret Obank is a British publisher and writer, noted for her contribution to the dissemination of contemporary Arabic literature in English translation. [1]

Contents

Life

Obank was born in Leeds. She studied philosophy and literature at Leeds University and linguistics at Birkbeck College. She worked in teaching and in printing and publishing for many years. Along with her husband, the Iraqi author Samuel Shimon, Obank was a founder of Banipal magazine, a journal devoted to publishing English translations of modern Arabic literature. The first issue of Banipal was published in February 1998, and as of 2022, there have been 75 issues. [2]

Obank has also established:

Obank is a trustee of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), and she is also involved with the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World.

Related Research Articles

Sudanese literature consists of both oral as well as written works of fiction and nonfiction that were created during the cultural history of today's Republic of the Sudan. This includes the territory of what was once Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, the independent country's history since 1956 as well as its changing geographical scope in the 21st century.

Hoda Barakat is a Lebanese novelist. She lived most of her early life in Beirut before moving to Paris, where she now resides. She has published six novels, two plays, a book of short stories, and a book of memoirs. Her works are originally written in Arabic and have been translated into English, Hebrew, French, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Romanian, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, and Greek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghada al-Samman</span> Syrian writer, journalist and novelist (born 1942)

Ghadah Al-Samman is a Syrian writer, journalist and novelist born in Damascus in 1942 to a prominent and conservative Damascene family. Her father was Ahmed Al-Samman, a president of the University of Damascus. She is distantly related to poet Nizar Qabbani, and was deeply influenced by him after her mother died at a very young age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khaled Khalifa</span> Syrian writer and scriptwriter (1964–2023)

Khaled Khalifa was a Syrian novelist, screenwriter and poet. He was nominated three times and shortlisted twice for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF). Some of his novels have been translated into English, German, French, Spanish and other languages.

Wajdi al-Ahdal is a Yemeni novelist, short story writer and playwright. Laureate of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) in 2008, is known for his contemporary literary style and sometimes socially critical works, some of which have been censored in Yemen. Until 2019, he has published five novels, four collections of short stories, a play and a film screenplay.

Nadia Al-Kokabany is a Yemeni novelist, short story writer and academic. She was born in Taiz and studied architecture at Sanaa University. She completed a PhD in architecture at Cairo University in 2008, before returning to take up an academic position at Sanaa University.

Samah Selim is an Egyptian scholar and translator of Arabic literature. She studied English literature at Barnard College, and obtained her PhD from Columbia University 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. She has also taught at Columbia, Princeton and Aix-en-Provence universities.

Sahar Tawfiq is an Egyptian novelist, short story writer and translator. Born and raised in Cairo, she studied Arabic language and literature at Al-Azhar University. She has worked as a teacher and educationist in both Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Issa J. Boullata</span> Palestinian scholar and writer (1929–2019)

Issa J. Boullata was a Palestinian scholar, writer, and translator of Arabic literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inaam Kachachi</span> Iraqi journalist and author

Inaam Kachachi is an Iraqi journalist and author. Inaam is an Iraqi writer, born in Baghdad in 1952. She studied journalism at Baghdad University, working in Iraqi press and radio before moving to Paris to complete a PhD at the Sorbonne. She is currently the Paris correspondent for London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat and Kol Al-Usra magazine in Sharjah, UAE. Kachachi has published a biography, Lorna, about the British journalist Lorna Hales, who was married to the famous pioneering Iraqi sculptor Jawad Salim, and a book in French about Iraqi women's literature produced in times of war. She produced and directed a documentary about Naziha Al Dulaimi, the first woman to become minister of an Arab country, in 1959. Her first novel Heart Springs appeared in 2005 and her second novel The American Granddaughter, was shortlisted for IPAF in 2009. An English translation of the novel was published by Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing in 2010.

Dima Wannous is a Syrian literary writer and journalist. She studied French literature at Damascus University and the University of Paris - Sorbonne. She also studied translation in France and has lived in Beirut, where she worked for the newspapers Al-Hayat and As-Safir. She has also worked for broadcast media.

Mohamed Salah El Azab is an Egyptian writer and novelist.

Bashir Mufti is an Algerian novelist and writer. He was born in Algiers and started writing in the mid-1980s. He has published a number of novels and short story collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammed Hasan Alwan</span> Saudi Arabian novelist (born 1979)

Mohammed Hasan Alwan is a Saudi Arabian novelist. He was born in Riyadh and studied Computer Information Systems at King Saud University, obtaining a bachelor's degree in 2002. He also obtained an MBA from the University of Portland, Oregon in 2008 and Ph.D from Carleton University, Ottawa in 2016.

Rania Ali Musa Mamoun is a Sudanese fiction writer and journalist, known for her novels, poems and short stories. She was born in the city of Wad Medani in east-central Sudan and was educated at the University of Gezira.

Maia Tabet is an Arabic-English literary translator with a background in editing and journalism. Born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1956, she was raised in Lebanon, India, and England. She studied philosophy and political science at the American University in Beirut and lives between the United States and Cyprus.

Hammour Ziada 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 number of left-wing newspapers in Sudan. Two of his novels were selected for Arabic literary awards and appeared in English translations.

Shahla Ujayli is a Syrian fiction writer and academic. A laureate of the Al Multaqa Prize for Arabic short stories, she became notable for her short story collection A Bed for the King’s Daughter and for her novels Summer with the Enemy and A Sky Close to Our House. Some of her works have been translated into English and German. Her work is part of contemporary Syrian literature in the context of imprisonment, war and exile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdelouahab Aissaoui</span> Algerian novelist

Abdelouahab Aissaoui is an Algerian writer. He was born in Djelfa and studied engineering at Zayan Ashour University. He has written a series of novels, the most recent of which, The Spartan Court, won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) in 2020.

Shada Mustafa is a Palestinian novelist, best known for her novel ما تركت خلفي which was shortlisted for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award for Literature 2021, Young Author category.

References

  1. "Profile in IPAF website". Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  2. "Banipal (UK) Magazine of Modern Arab Literature". www.banipal.co.uk. Retrieved 14 September 2024.