Meet our community: Ibrahim Fawzy
What’s the biggest thing that has come out of your membership with ALTA?
The first real turning point in my relationship with ALTA came in 2021, when I volunteered at the conference. Initially, I was assigned to monitor two sessions that quickly became my gateway into the field. Through conversations before, during, and after the panels, I connected with translators, editors, and scholars who would later become integral to my professional network. That experience transformed ALTA into a vibrant, lived community for me, and it marked the first time I felt truly recognized as a translator among peers.
That connection deepened in 2024, when I was honored to be selected as a Peter K. Jansen Memorial Travel Fellow. Returning to the conference in that capacity felt like a full-circle moment. It also gave me the chance to present a public reading from my translation of Hassan Akram’s A Plan to Save the World, allowing me not only to share my work, but also to engage more directly with fellow translators and to establish my presence within the community.
Since then, ALTA has continued to shape my path in meaningful ways. It introduced me to the wider world of literary translation and enabled me to participate in additional ALTA events, connecting me with an expansive network of translators, editors, and collaborators. I now have a forthcoming book-length translation, a milestone I see as part of a broader process of growth, exchange, and visibility that ALTA helped foster. More than any single achievement, ALTA has given me a lasting sense of belonging in the field and a community that continues to inspire and support my work.
What does ALTA mean for you in emojis?
❤️
What’s your favorite feature of the relaunched ALTA website?
Do you have a recent publication you’d like us to know about?
A Plan to Save the World by Hassan Akram, translated from Arabic by Ibrahim Fawzy, published by Sandorf Passage.
Thank you, Ibrahim!