Spotlight on Arabic Literature and Culture
Date May, 24 2022
Location Virtual
For centuries, Arabic literature and culture has influenced some of the West's most revered authors and thinkers. The Sheikh Zayed Book Award hosted a panel discussion highlighting the importance of sharing Arabic literature and culture around the world called “Spotlight on Arabic Literature and Culture”
Presented by the Sheikh Zayed Book Award Tahera Qutbuddin, SZBA 2021 winner of arab culture in other languages & a professor of Arabic literature at the University of Chicago; Michael Cooperson, SZBA 2021 Translation Winner & an American author, translator, and professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of California, Los Angeles; and Dr. Muhsin J. Al-Musawi SZBA 2022 Arabic Culture in Other Languages winner and Professor of Classical and Modern Arabic Literature, Comparative and Cultural Studies, Columbia University. Moderated by Ed Nawotka, International Editor, Publishers Weekly.
Speakers
Michael Cooperson
An American author and translator, Cooperson studied at Harvard University and the American University of Cairo, and is currently a professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has published two monographs on early Abbasid cultural history: ‘Classical Arabic Biography’ and ‘Al-Ma'mun’. In addition to Impostures, he has translated Abdelfattah Kilito's ‘L'Auteur et ses doubles (The Author and his Doubles)’ and Ibn al-Jawzi's ‘Manaqib al-Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal)’. His other interests include Maltese language and culture.
Prof. Tahera Qutbuddin
A Professor of Arabic Literature at the University of Chicago, and serves on the editorial board of NYU Abu Dhabi’s Library of Arabic Literature. She obtained her PhD and MA from Harvard University, USA, Tamhidi Magister and BA from Ain Shams University, Cairo, and high school diploma from Sophia College, Mumbai. Her research focuses on intersections of the literary, the religious, and the political in classical Arabic poetry and prose. Her recent publications include ‘Arabic Oration: Art and Function’ released in 2019, ‘Light in the Heavens: Sayings of the Prophet Muḥammad’ released in 2016, and ‘A Treasury of Virtues: Sayings, Sermons, and Teachings of ʿAlī’ released in 2013). She has received fellowship support from the Franke Institute of Humanities, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.
Dr. Muhsin J. Al-Musawi
SZBA 2022 Arabic Culture in Other Languages winner and Professor of Classical and Modern Arabic Literature, Comparative and Cultural Studies, Columbia University
Ed Nawotka
International Editor, Publishers Weekly.