Scientific Committee

HE Saeed Hamdan Al Tunaiji

HE Saeed Hamdan Al Tunaiji, Executive Director of the Arabic Language Centre, has acquired extensive experience in leading initiatives that focus on books and the publishing industry at the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi). He managed creative content and played a major role in publishing notable series of books, including with the Kalima Project for Translation and the ‘Isdarat’ series.

Prof. Dr. Khalil Al Sheikh

A seasoned researcher, critic and translator, Dr. Al Sheikh is a Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at Jordan’s Yarmouk University and holds a doctorate in comparative critical studies from Germany’s Bonn University.

Dr. Al Sheikh has served as visiting professor at several universities and published more than 25 adjudged papers and a number of studies in comparative and literary criticism, novel writing and autobiography. Dr. Al Sheikh has translated from German into Arabic many critical studies, creative works and adolescent literature including: Kafkas’ Diary; Herta Müllers’ noble prize- winning novel ‘Even Back Then, the Fox Was the Hunter’ and the acclaimed Ingo Schulze novel ‘Adam and Evelyn.’

Juergen Boos

Juergen Boos became President and CEO of the Frankfurter Buchmesse GmbH (Frankfurt Book Fair) in 2005 and is President of LITPROM (Society for the Promotion of African, Asian and Latin American Literature) and Managing Director of LitCam (Frankfurter Buchmesse Literacy Campaign). On 20 November 2013, he was awarded the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art. In January 2017, Juergen Boos received an honorary degree from the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. In February 2018, he was conferred the cultural distinction of “Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres“ (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) at the French embassy in Berlin. He holds a membership of the Scientific Committee of Sheikh Zayed Book Award and of Akademie Deutscher Buchpreis (German Book Prize Academy).

Dr. Badria Bishr

Dr. Badria Bishr is one of the most distinguished Arab female writers. She holds a PhD in Sociology from the Lebanese University in Beirut, and a Master’s degree in Arts from King Saud University in Riyadh. Bishr has penned several notable books, some of which have been translated into numerous languages. Her most prominent works include ‘Thursday Visitors’, ‘The Cardamom Seed’, and ‘The Swing’, among others.

Prof. Floréal Sanagustin

Prof. Floréal Sanagustin was born in France in 1951 and is an emeritus professor of Arabic language and literature at Université Lumière-Lyon, as well as an expert in the history of Arabic sciences, medieval philosophy and thought and epistemology. He lived for 11 years in the Arab world during his studies, and then as an academic. Prof. Sanagustin reads, writes and speaks Modern Standard Arabic. 

He holds a PhD in Arabic Literature from Université Sorbonne-Nouvelle Paris III (1981), in addition to a Post-PhD dissertation (to qualify as full professor) in Arabic Literature, entitled ‘The philosophical and medical doctrines of Ibn Sînâ in The Canon of Medicine (al-Qânûn fîl-tibb). Towards a General Interpretation’ (1994). Prof. Sanagustin is an associate member of the CNRS/Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon ICAR research group and previously worked as the Director of the French Institute of Arabic Studies in Damascus.

He has also worked as the Scientific Director for Medieval and Modern Arabic Studies at the French Institute for Middle Eastern Studies, and as an Interim Director of the French Institute for Middle Eastern Studies. He served as a jury member of the de l'agrégation d'arabe in multiple editions, and a jury president between 2010 and 2013. In addition, he served as Jury President of the du Capes d’arabe – a competition for Arabic studies in France. Floréal was President of the French Association of Arabic Scholars and Academics (AFDA) between 1995 and 2002 and has been a member of the French University Committee for Arabic Studies since 1995.

Prof. Sanagustin has many publications to his name in French, varying from books, research papers and articles on the history of Arabic sciences, medieval philosophy and thought and epistemology. These include 12 books and more than 28 articles he has either authored, edited or supervised.  

Dr. Nadia El Cheikh

Nadia El Cheikh is a scholar of the Abbasid Caliphate and Byzantium. She earned her BA in History and Archaeology with distinction from the American University of Beirut in 1985 and her PhD from Harvard University in 1992. Her publications include Byzantium Viewed by the Arabs (2004), Crisis and Continuity at the Abbasid Court (2013), Formal and Informal Politics in the Caliphate of al-Muqtadir (2013), and Women, Islam, and Abbasid Identity (2015), published by Harvard University Press and recently translated into Arabic, among other studies. At the American University of Beirut, El Cheikh served as Director of the Centre for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies, as well as Chair of the Department of History and Archaeology, before being appointed Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at AUB, becoming the first woman to assume the post in the faculty’s history. In 2022, she was appointed Vice Provost for Cultural and Research Engagement at NYU Abu Dhabi.

Dr. Amany Gadallah

Dr Amany Gadallah holds a PhD in criticism and rhetoric with first honours degree from Egypt’s Ain Shams University, and has made many literary and cultural contributions, including writing short stories and essays for Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper.

Dr Amany is a professor at the High Institute of Arab Studies - Arab league, in Cairo, as well as a member of the jury for the State Appreciation and Incentive Awards, and a series of other Egyptian and Arab awards. Dr Amany has authored numerous publications, most notably Woman: A Heritage of Oppression, The Novel and Society’s Liberation, and Creativity in the Heritage of Abu Hayyan Al-Tawhidi.

Mustafa Al-Slaiman

Mustafa Al-Slaiman was born in Jordan, in 1960, and currently lives and works in Germany’s capital, Berlin, as a prolific literary translator, conference interpreter and cultural mediator.

Following the completion of his studies, Al-Slaiman went on to work as an interpretation and translation Lecturer at Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz, Germany, Faculty of Applied Linguistic and Cultural Sciences, Germersheim. He has also worked as a staff translator and interpreter at German’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with another role being Arabic language and culture tutor in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the University of Passau in Germany. 

Al-Slaiman has translated many literary works from German into Arabic and vice-versa, including an anthology of poetry into German, and has had several articles and essays published by various literary periodicals and newspapers, as well as research papers in various languages. He has also organized readings and other literary events for adults, children and young people across Germany.