Translation & Cultural Exchange
Date April, 28 2022
Location Virtual
The Sheikh Zayed Book Award at the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, part of Department of Culture and Tourism, and in collaboration with the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London, held a webinar entitled “Translation and Cultural Exchange”, hosted and moderated by Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at SOAS University of London Wen-chin Ouyang, with cultural historian and translator and SZBA 2022 Translation Category Shortlistee Nawal Nasrallah, Literary translator Katherine Halls, and Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at Shanghai International Studies University Wang Yuyong.
The webinar discussed the role of translation in driving dialogue in literary and creative fields among nations.
Speakers
Prof. Wen-Chin Ouyang
Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature at SOAS, University of London
Nawal Nasrallah
Nawal Nasrallah specializes in the history and culture of Arab food. She is best known for her cookbook featuring Iraqi cuisine, Delights from the Garden of Eden (2003) which won the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in 2007. She is the translator of Best of Delectable Foods and Dishes from al-Andalus and al-Maghrib by Thirteenth-Century Andalusi Scholar Ibn Razīn al-Tujībī (Brill, 2021, Shortlisted for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the category ‘Translation’.) Other books include Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens (Brill 2007, Gourmand World Cookbook Award for best translated cookbook), and Treasure Trove of Benefits and Variety at the Table (Brill 2018, Winner of the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding).
Katharine Halls
Katharine Halls is an Arabic-to-English translator. She is a 2021 recipient of a PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for her translation of Haytham El-Wardany's Things That Can’t Be Fixed. She was awarded the 2017 Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation for her translation, with Adam Talib, of The Dove's Necklace by Saudi author Raja Alem. The novel was also shortlisted for the 2017 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation. As well as modern standard Arabic, she translates premodern Arabic and colloquial Arabic in both written and spoken forms, especially for film and theatre. She has worked with Egyptian, Sudanese, Lebanese, Palestinian, Syrian, Iraqi, Saudi and Algerian dialects.
Prof. Wang Yuyong
Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at Shanghai International Studies University.