January Translation Challenge: Kushajim
“Nothing could be more befitting than Kushājim’s epigrammatic riddles.”
On Translation
What Distinguished Humphrey Davies: Irreverent and Faithful Acts of Transcreation
“For us readers of Arabic that are thirsty for a more inclusive canon that has room for queers, peers, poors, boors, mamas and other sisters, Humphrey’s translations have been central in planting the idea that such a canon does exist and that our search will yield some exciting results, as his search so far has done.”
Humphrey Davies and the ‘Tabloid Touch’ Demanded by Translating a 13th-century Charlatan
“He seems to me a truly in-between character – in between autodidact and man of letters, in between conman and upstanding citizen, in between chancer on the streets of Damascus and provincial court hanger-on in the provinces.”
Alexander Key: On Domesticating Al-Jurjani 110%
“I’m trying to translate al-Jurjani so that he sounds like a literary critic writing in English, writing in his native language. I don’t want the reader of al-Jurjani’s experience with metaphor to think this guy is foreign – because al-Jurjani didn’t think he was foreign.”
2021 ArabLit Story Prize: Shortlisted Translator Dima El-Mouallem on Authors and Their Ghosts
I find myself asking, “Would you have liked this translation? Would you have done it differently?” I hope the ghosts of my authors approve.
2021 ArabLit Story Prize: Shortlisted Translator Burnaby Hawkes on the Translingual Experience
“Translation made me understand language much better. … This translingual experience has changed my perspective, of course. I became aware of the merits and limitations of each language. “
2021 ArabLit Story Prize Shortlisted Translators Maisaa Tanjour and Alice Holttum: On the Value of Co-translations
“We are both outsiders and insiders, readers and translators, hence approaching the text from various angles and perspectives which ultimately enriched the translation process and product.”
2021 ArabLit Story Prize: Shortlisted Translator Katherine Van de Vate on Great Storytelling
““The Baffling Case of the Man Called Ahmet Yilmaz” was actually written at my request. Karima is primarily a novelist, though she published an award-winning collection of short stories at the age of only 18. I asked Karima if she had any short stories I could translate, and she wrote this one in response to my question. It was based on an event she heard about while she was working as a journalist in Istanbul.”
2021 ArabLit Story Prize: Shortlisted Translator Katharine Halls on Dismantling and Rebuilding Stories
“The reader will never know these things, but I like to know them so I can orient myself properly towards the text. I want to come at the text in the right direction.”