“A closer look at the translation activities in the geography that shares certain common cultures with Turkey, six major translation junctions can be discerned: the Baghdad-centered translation movement, the Toledo movement in Andalusia, the era of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, the Ottoman Translation Chamber, the Translation Office in the Turkish Republic period, and the TEDA project.”Continue Reading

For our most recent Translation Challenge, hosted by Adam Talib, participants tried their hand at translating an 1882 text on taxation by ʿAbd Allāh an-Nadīm, and the results were  “cruel and barbarous, blood-curdling and gut-wrenching.” For this month’s translation challenge, we hope the results will be sweeter. Join in theContinue Reading

Also read the author-translator’s note, part of our special section on self-translation. By Khalid Lyamlahy Translated by Khalid Lyamlahy Excerpt 1 – Queuing at the Prefecture On my right, people under a wooden shed, in front of a metal gate. I walk their direction, convinced that my place is there:Continue Reading

This is part of a special section on self-translation. By Mona Kareem When I first started writing poems in Arabic at the age of ten, I called them “foreign poems.” I did not know at the time what a “prose poem” is, but I was able to tell that myContinue Reading

In this special section on self-translation, authors and author-translators Mona Kareem, Khalid Lyamlahy, Deena Mohamed, Dunya Mikhail, and Ali Shakir reflect on what it means to transport their own writing from one of their languages to another. Continue Reading