Somaya Ramadan

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Somaya Yehia Ramadan
سمية رمضان
Born1951 (1951)
Died (aged 73)
Alma mater Cairo University, Trinity College, Dublin
Notable workLeaves of Narcissus
Awards Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature

Somaya Yehia Ramadan (1951 - 20 August 2024) was an Egyptian academic, translator and writer. She is mainly known for her 2001 novel Awraq Al-Nargis, published in English as Leaves of Narcissus that won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature and for her Arabic translation of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own .

Contents

Biography

Ramadan was born in Cairo in 1951 and studied English literature at Cairo University. Subsequently, she obtained a PhD in English from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1983. [1]

Ramadan's first two books were short story collections: Khashab wa Nahass (Wood and Brass) and Manazil al-Qamar (Phases of the Moon). Her first novel Awraq Al-Nargis (Leaves of Narcissus) published in 2001, set largely in Ireland and centred aroung the notion of exile, won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature. [2] It was translated into English by Marilyn Booth and published in 2006 by AUC Press. [3] The same year, a French translation was published as Feuilles de Narcisse. [4] Commenting on her literary technique and narrative style, the jury for this prestigious Egyptian literary prize wrote: [5]

The novel is supremely complex, with modernist techniques pushed to the utmost, and thus maintaining all along a superb and vibrant creative tension. Marked by a hallucinating and captivating narration, this is liminal writing par excellence: writing while gazing at the abyss of being.

Ramadan also worked extensively as a translator. Among her translations is Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. Further, she was a founding member of the Women and Memory Forum, a non-profit organisation, and taught English and Translation at the National Academy of Arts in Cairo. [5]

Ramadan was an Egyptian Baha'i and author of a non-fiction book, where she tried to clarify common misunderstandings about this faith. [6] She died on 19 August 2024, at the age of 73. [7]

Works

Ramadan's works include:

Literature

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References

  1. Author profile in the English PEN World Atlas Somaya Ramadan at the Wayback Machine (archived 6 October 2011)
  2. Johnson-Davies, Denys, ed. (31 March 2010). "Somaya Ramadan". The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction (2010 ed.). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 356. ISBN   9780307481481.
  3. Hasna Reda-Mekdashi (2008). Arab Women Writers A Critical Reference Guide, 1873-1999. American University in Cairo Press. p. 143. ISBN   9789774161469 . Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  4. "Feuilles de narcisse | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  5. 1 2 "Naguib Mahfouz Medal-winning Novelist Somaya Ramadan Dies, 73". ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY. 20 August 2024. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  6. Lucy Provan (14 October 2012). "Bahaʼis in Egypt - The 25 January revolution gave everyone hope for change, and the Bahaʼi hope for acceptance". Daily News Egypt. Egypt. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  7. "أكاديمية الفنون تنعى المترجمة وأستاذة النقد الأدبي سمية رمضان". Elwatan News. 20 August 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024.