Translation work
My interest in translating began with a worry—which later turned out to be unfounded—that my explorations outside Islamic studies would steer me to faraway places and compel me to leave cherished things behind. It was a bid to cement my relationship with a language tended for years; it was also a bid to learn from the art of those whose words would travel through my own.
To date, my longest work consists of a full translation of the short novel The Ring of Sand (Khātim al-raml) by the Iraqi novelist Fu'ad al-Takarli (d. 2008), and several chapters of the novel The Unfaithful Translator (Al-Mutarjim al-khā'in) by the Syrian author Fawwaz Haddad. The first tells the story of a thirty-something Iraqi architect whose inexplicable desertion of his bride on the night of their wedding leaves Baghdad society scandalised. The second, which was shortlisted for the 2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, tells the story of a maverick translator working in Damascus, whose unusual approach to translating lands him in serious trouble—exposing, along the way, many of the features of the intellectual world he lives in. Both translations remain unpublished; for further detail on both books, follow the above links. More recently, I began translating the IPAF-shortlisted novel The Story of Sabiliyat as I Heard it From Um Qasem by the Kuwaiti writer Ismail Fahd Ismail. The translation will appear with Interlink Books in 2018 or 2019.
A few other excerpts of my translating work have appeared with Banipal magazine over the last couple of years. One of my favourites is the excerpt from Jokha Alharthi's enchanting novel Women of the Moon (Sayyidāt al-qamar), which won the Omani award for Best Novel in 2010. Set in the backdrop of the political and economic upheavals that shaped contemporary Oman, the novel tells the story of a small village society as it enters the modern world. Focusing on the lives of three generations of women struggling with love in the context of traditional social structures, it can be read as a thought-provoking study of different modes of love, which evokes in rich and sensuous detail the life of a traditional society in the grip of seismic change. The excerpt is available here with kind permission of Banipal.
Other work includes sections from Khaled al-Berry's An Oriental Dance (Raqṣa sharqiyya), which was shortlisted for the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (available here; a synopsis provided in collaboration with the author can be seen here) and Mansoura Ez Eldin's Beyond Paradise (Warā' al-firdaws), shortlisted for the 2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (available here). Both excerpts are included here with kind permission of Thesis Contents Agency (Milan) which originally commissioned them. More recent work, including translations from the IPAF prize winner Saud Alsanousi and the IPAF-shortlisted Lina Hawyan al-Hassan, can be found on the website of Banipal magazine.
I welcome the opportunity to undertake new translating work, literary or otherwise. You can find my contact details here.
To date, my longest work consists of a full translation of the short novel The Ring of Sand (Khātim al-raml) by the Iraqi novelist Fu'ad al-Takarli (d. 2008), and several chapters of the novel The Unfaithful Translator (Al-Mutarjim al-khā'in) by the Syrian author Fawwaz Haddad. The first tells the story of a thirty-something Iraqi architect whose inexplicable desertion of his bride on the night of their wedding leaves Baghdad society scandalised. The second, which was shortlisted for the 2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, tells the story of a maverick translator working in Damascus, whose unusual approach to translating lands him in serious trouble—exposing, along the way, many of the features of the intellectual world he lives in. Both translations remain unpublished; for further detail on both books, follow the above links. More recently, I began translating the IPAF-shortlisted novel The Story of Sabiliyat as I Heard it From Um Qasem by the Kuwaiti writer Ismail Fahd Ismail. The translation will appear with Interlink Books in 2018 or 2019.
A few other excerpts of my translating work have appeared with Banipal magazine over the last couple of years. One of my favourites is the excerpt from Jokha Alharthi's enchanting novel Women of the Moon (Sayyidāt al-qamar), which won the Omani award for Best Novel in 2010. Set in the backdrop of the political and economic upheavals that shaped contemporary Oman, the novel tells the story of a small village society as it enters the modern world. Focusing on the lives of three generations of women struggling with love in the context of traditional social structures, it can be read as a thought-provoking study of different modes of love, which evokes in rich and sensuous detail the life of a traditional society in the grip of seismic change. The excerpt is available here with kind permission of Banipal.
Other work includes sections from Khaled al-Berry's An Oriental Dance (Raqṣa sharqiyya), which was shortlisted for the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (available here; a synopsis provided in collaboration with the author can be seen here) and Mansoura Ez Eldin's Beyond Paradise (Warā' al-firdaws), shortlisted for the 2009 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (available here). Both excerpts are included here with kind permission of Thesis Contents Agency (Milan) which originally commissioned them. More recent work, including translations from the IPAF prize winner Saud Alsanousi and the IPAF-shortlisted Lina Hawyan al-Hassan, can be found on the website of Banipal magazine.
I welcome the opportunity to undertake new translating work, literary or otherwise. You can find my contact details here.