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The Arabic Translation Challenge
The Arabic Translation Challenge
Since March 2020, Kevin Blankinship, who teaches Arabic at Brigham Young University, has hosted a weekly Arabic Translation Challenge on Twitter (and on ArabLit.org from May 2020).
On Tuesdays, we put up a challenge, including an intro, Arabic text to translate, and mention of existing translations. Next, we invite renderings into any language from all who want to join, with a deadline of Friday at noon EST. Then on Saturday, we do a highlights roundup of that week, but not like a contest: the goal is to showcase many styles without privileging any. What began as a diverting pastime has become a vibrant community. This roundtable will be a discussion of the series with Dr. Blankinship, ArabLit.org founder Marcia Qualey, and two guest hosts, Dr. Rachel Schine and novelist Youssef Rakha.
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Moderator
Kevin Blankinship is Assistant Professor of Arabic at Brigham Young University. His essays and poetry have appeared in The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The Millions, Gingerbread House, Blue Unicorn, and more. Follow him on Twitter @AmericanMaghreb.
Presenters
M Lynx Qualey is founding editor of the translation community website ArabLit (www.arablit.org), which won a 2017 London Book Fair prize. MLQ is also co-host of the popular BULAQ podcast, and her translation of Sonia Nimr’s Wondrous Journeys in Amazing Lands is forthcoming in October. Rachel Schine holds a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago. She is a postdoctoral associate in Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has published on topics relating to racialization, Blackness, and kinship in Arabic storytelling, and is a translator of Arabic poetry and popular epics.