Salma Khadra Jayyusi

Salma Khadra Jayyusi
سلمى الخضراء الجيوسي
Salma Jayyusi
Born(1925-04-16)16 April 1925
Safed, Palestine
Died20 April 2023(2023-04-20) (aged 98)
Amman, Jordan
Known forpoet, writer, translator and anthologist
ParentSubhi al-Khadra (father)

Salma Khadra Jayyusi (Arabic: سلمى الخضراء الجيوسي; 16 April 1925[1] – 20 April 2023) was a Palestinian poet, writer, translator and anthologist. She was the founder and director of the Project of Translation from Arabic (PROTA), which aims to provide translation of Arabic literature into English.

Biography

Jayyusi was born in Safed[2] to a Palestinian father, the Arab nationalist Subhi al-Khadra, and a Lebanese mother. After attending secondary school in Jerusalem, she studied Arabic and English literature at the American University of Beirut. She married a Jordanian diplomat, with whom she travelled and raised three children.[3]

In 1960, she published her first poetry collection, Return from the Dreamy Fountain. In 1970, she received her PhD on Arabic literature from the University of London. The title of her dissertation was "Trends and Movements in Modern Arabic Poetry".[4]

She taught at the University of Khartoum from 1970 to 1973 and at the universities of Algiers and Constantine from 1973 to 1975. In 1973, she was invited by the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) to go on a lecture tour of Canada and the US, on a Ford Foundation Fellowship. In 1975, the University of Utah invited her to return as a visiting professor of Arabic literature, and from then on, she was based at various universities in the United States.[3]

To encourage the wider dissemination of Arabic literature and culture, Jayyusi founded the Project of Translation from Arabic (PROTA) in 1980. In 1990 she established East-West Nexus, a second venture aimed at making Arabic scholarly works available in English.[5]

Jayyusi died in Amman, Jordan, on 20 April 2023.

Works

Awards

  • 1998: Palestine Prize for Literature, Arts and Humanities, awarded by the Palestinian Ministry of Culture[7]
  • 2006: Al Owais Award for Scientific and Cultural Achievement[8]
  • 2010: Takreem Award for Cultural Excellence[9]
  • 2020: Sheikh Zayed Book Award, Cultural Personality of the Year[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Salma Khadra Jayyusi - Writers and Novelists (1925 - 2023)". Interactive Encyclopedia of the Palestine Question – palquest. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  2. ↑ Mishael Caspi, Jerome David Weltsch,From Slumber to Awakening: Culture and Identity of Arab Israeli Literati, University Press of America 1998, p. 42.
  3. 1 2 Personality of the Month: Salma Khadra Jayyusi, This Week in Palestine, Issue No. 114, October 2007. Accessed 11 September 2012.
  4. ↑ "Salma Khadra Jayyusi". jerusalemstory.com (in Arabic). 7 April 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.
  5. ↑ "In Memory of Salma Khadra Jayyusi". SOAS University of London. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  6. ↑ Ḥabībī, Imīl; Habiby, Emile (1985). The Secret Life of Saeed, the Pessoptimist. Zed Books. ISBN 978-0-86232-399-8.
  7. ↑ "Salma Khadra Jayyusi". The Palestine Prize Foundation. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  8. ↑ Cite error: The named reference newarab-obit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ↑ "Salma Khadra Jayyusi". Takreem Foundation. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "Salma Khadra Jayyusi". Sheikh Zayed Book Award. Retrieved 21 August 2026.
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