Coming Soon: Between Two Arabic Translators

Between Two Arabic Translators, An Exploration of Power and Language

With Yasmeen Hanoosh

Between Two Arabic Translators is a unique series of conversations that delve into the power dynamics inherent in the translation of Arabic texts. Through candid conversations between two experienced Arabic translators, this series explores how language is not just a medium of communication and a bridge between cultures, but also a tool shaped by historical, social, and political forces. At the heart of Between Two Arabic Translators is the question: How do translators navigate the unequal power relations between Arabic and other global languages?

The series addresses crucial questions such as: What happens when Arabic, a language with deep historical and literary significance, is translated into languages with different colonial legacies that obfuscate those features? How do translators negotiate the tension between preserving the original meaning, tone, and style and adapting to the dominant language’s structures and expectations? What role does literary translation play in shaping perceptions of the Arab world in the global context? What are the economic and political conditions shaping the scene of Arabic translation today?

Between Two Arabic Translators is for anyone interested in the complexities of translation as a process influenced by power. It speaks to linguists, translators, scholars of post-colonial studies, and students of Arabic language and literature. This series also engages a broader audience—those curious about how the act of translating Arabic reflects, reinforces, or subverts the power relations between Arabic and other languages, and how these translations shape our understanding of culture, identity, and history.

Yasmeen Hanoosh is an award-winning literary translator. Her translation Closing His Eyes (Luay Hamza Abbas), received an NEA translation fellowship in 2010, and her translation of Scattered Crumbs (Muhsin al-Ramli) won the Arkansas Arabic Translation Prize in 2002, and has been since excerpted in a number of publications. Yasmeen’s other English translations of Arabic fiction have appeared in various literary journals and publications, including World Literature Today, Banipal, ArabLit Quarterly, Michigan Studies Quarterly, Jadaliyya, Words Without Borders, The Iowa Review, among others.