About the Cultural Personality of the Year
Born in Canada in 1922, Dr. Davis’ childhood was spent in Egypt, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and England. He studied at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and at Cambridge University. Early in his career, he worked for the BBC’s Arabic Service and taught at Cairo University. At that time, he got acquainted with prominent literary figures such as Tawfiq Al Hakeem, Yousif Edris and Yehya Haqqi.
Dr. Davies translated more than 28 Arabic literary works ranging from short stories through plays to novels and poetry authored by many Arab geniuses including Tawfiq Al Hakeem, Nobel winner Najeeb Mahfouz, Mahmoud Taimour, Zakaria Tamer, Al Tayeb Al Saleh, Salwa Bakr, Yehya Al Taher Abdullah, Mohamed Al Bisati, Buthaina Al Nasseri and others