Paula Haydar | |
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Born | 1965 (age 58–59) |
Citizenship | United States |
Occupation(s) | Assistant professor, Arabic language translator |
Known for | Literary translation |
Spouse | Adnan Haydar |
Academic background | |
Education |
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Alma mater | University of Arkansas |
Academic work | |
Discipline |
Paula Haydar (born 1965) is an American academic and translator. She has a PhD in Comparative literature and an MFA in Literary translation. [1] She won an Arkansas Arabic Translation Prize for her translation of Elias Khoury's The Kingdom of Strangers. Her work has appeared in Banipal magazine and she has translated the literary work of Jabbour Douaihy,Rachid Al-Daif,and others.
Haydar obtained a bachelor's degree in physics in 1987 and an M.Ed from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1991. She then earned a MFA in literary translation from the University of Arkansas in 1998. She received a PhD,from the University of Arkansas in 2014. [2]
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. [2]
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 Banipal magazine (1998,2008). [3] 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. [4]
Haydar has translated novels,short stories,and poetry from Arabic to English. Her book length translations include:
She is married to fellow academic Adnan Haydar and lives in Fayetteville,Arkansas. Their son Fuad "Kikko" Haydar played basketball for the Arkansas Razorbacks. [13]
Elias Khoury is a Lebanese novelist and public intellectual. His novels and literary criticism have been translated into several languages. In 2000,he won the Prize of Palestine for his book Gate of the Sun,and he won the Al Owais Award for fiction writing in 2007. Khoury has also written three plays and two screenplays.
Sahar Khalifeh 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 novel Wild Thorns (1976). She has won international prizes,including the 2006 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature,for The Image,the Icon,and the Covenant. Khalifeh obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Birzeit University,Palestine.
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 times a year. Since its inception,it has published works and interviews of numerous Arab authors and poets,many of them translated for the first time into English. It is also co-sponsor of the Saif Ghobash–Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation.
Rashid El Daif is a Lebanese poet and novelist. He has been translated into 14 languages. He has been referred to as "the Arab world's answer to Italo Calvino or Umberto Eco".
Aida Adib Bamia is professor emeritus of Arabic language and literature at the University of Florida in Gainesville. She is a specialist in North African literature. Her work on Arabic literature has helped to bring quality translations to English readers.
The Banipal Prize,whose full name is the Saif Ghobash–Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation,is an annual prize awarded to a translator for the published English translation of a full-length literary work in the Arabic language. The prize was inaugurated in 2006 by the literary magazine Banipal which promotes the diffusion of contemporary Arabic literature through English translations and the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature. It is administered by the Society of Authors in the UK,and the prize money is sponsored by Omar Saif Ghobash and his family in memory of Ghobash's late father Saif Ghobash. As of 2009,the prize money amounted to £3000.
Humphrey T. Davies was a British translator of Arabic fiction,historical and classical texts. Born in Great Britain,he studied Arabic in college and graduate school. He worked for decades in the Arab world and was based in Cairo from the late 20th century to 2021. He translated at least 18 Arabic works into English,including contemporary literature. He is a two-time winner of the Banipal Prize.
Jabbour Douaihy 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 translations,short story collections,and children's books. His work,mostly originally in Arabic,has been translated several languages,including English and French.
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.
Hartmut Fähndrich is a German scholar and translator,specialising in translation of Arabic literature into German. He was born in Tübingen and studied at the universities of Tübingen,Münster,and UCLA. He obtained an MA in comparative literature 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 and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich.
Nay Hannawi is a Lebanese translator. She obtained a bachelor's degree at the American University in Beirut and an MFA in translation at the University of Arkansas. Since 2002,she has been teaching English language and literature at the Arab Open University in Kuwait.
Marilyn Louise Booth is an author,scholar and translator of Arabic literature. Since 2015,she has been the Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud Professor for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Magdalen College,Oxford.
Paul Starkey is a British scholar and translator of Arabic literature.
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.
Adania Shibli is a Palestinian author and essayist. She is mainly known for the 2020 translation of her novel Minor Detail into English,German and other languages,and for a public controversy in Germany following the cancellation of a literary prize for this book,originally scheduled for the 2023 Frankfurt Book Fair.
Nicole Fares is a Lebanese academic and translator. She obtained a bachelor's degree in translation and interpretation from AUST in Beirut. She then obtained an M.F.A in literary translation and a Ph.D. in comparative literature and cultural studies. from the University of Arkansas.
Elisabeth Jaquette is an American translator of modern Arabic literature. Her work has been shortlisted for the National Book Award and TA First Translation Prize,and supported by the Jan Michalski Foundation,the PEN/Heim Translation Fund,and several English PEN Translates Awards. She has a BA from Swarthmore College and an MA from Columbia University and was a CASA Fellow at The American University in Cairo. She is also Executive Director of the American Literary Translators Association.
June Rain is a 2006 novel written by Lebanese critic and writer Jabbour Douaihy. The novel was published in 2006 by Dar Al-Nahar for Publishing and Distribution by Dar Al-Saqi’s in London. It has been translated to French,Italian,German,and English. The book was also shortlisted for the 2008 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
Minor Detail is a 2017 novel by the Palestinian author Adania Shibli. It was translated into English by Elisabeth Jaquette in 2020.