University of Michigan Professor of Arabic Literature Wins MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant [on Khaled Mattawa]

A University of Michigan professor known for his translations of Arabic poetry was recently awarded a MacArthur ‘genius’ grant.

Khaled Mattawa has translated many highly-respected, but little-known contemporary poets from the Arab world. introducing them to the Western world.

He is among 21 people in the arts and sciences who were named 2014 MacArthur Foundation Fellows.

The fellows each receive a no-strings-attached stipend of $625,000, paid out over five years.

“In masterful translations that evoke the rhythm and cadence of Arabic, (Mattawa) renders the beauty and meaning of the poems accessible to an English reader,” the MacArthur website says.

Mattawa is also the author of four poetry collections of his own.

“The translated poems occupy a transitional space between two cultural traditions,” the website says. “Mattawa’s own poetry exhibits a similar quality, blurring time and space to impart the complexity of a transnational identity.”

Mattawa received a B.A. at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, an M.A. and M.F.A. from Indiana University at Bloomington, and a Ph.D. from Duke University. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of English Language and Literature.

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