Library of Arabic Literature#2017

{{Short description|Book series of Arabic literature}}{{Infobox publisher|image=Library_of_Arabic_Literature_logo_blue_on_white.jpeg|parent=New York University Press|website=https://www.libraryofarabicliterature.org/}}

The Library of Arabic Literature ({{Langx|ar|المكتبة العربية|links=no}}) is a bilingual book series that publishes English translations and Arabic editions of Arabic texts from the seventh to nineteenth centuries.{{Cite web |title=About the Library of Arabic Literature |url=https://www.libraryofarabicliterature.org/about-the-series/ |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=Library of Arabic Literature |language=en}}

Premise

The Library of Arabic Literature publishes editions of significant Arabic texts from the seventh to nineteenth centuries and their English translations. The series' aim is "to revive and reintroduce classic Arabic literature to a whole new generation of Arabs and non-Arabs, and make it more accessible and readable to everyone,"{{cite web |url=http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/arabic-literary-treasures-given-new-life#full |title=Arabic literary treasures given new life |work=TheNational |author=Rym Ghazal |date=December 22, 2012 |accessdate=December 22, 2012}} as very little of the corpus of Arabic literature from this period is available to an English-speaking audience.{{cite web|url=http://www.wam.org.ae/servlet/Satellite?c=WamLocEnews&cid=1290002268509&p=1135099400124&pagename=WAM%2FWamLocEnews%2FW-T-LEN-FullNews|title=NYUAD's Library of Arabic Literature Releases First Publication|author=Staff writer|author-link=Staff writer|date=December 14, 2012|work=WAM|publisher=Emirates News Agency|accessdate=December 22, 2012}} The books are edited and translated by distinguished scholars of Arabic and Islam from around the world.

The series publishes each book in a hardcover parallel-text format, with Arabic and English on facing pages, as well as in English-only paperbacks and free downloadable Arabic PDFs. For some texts, the series also publishes separate scholarly editions with full critical apparatus. Genres include poetry and prose, fiction, religion, philosophy, law, science, history, and travel writing.

The Library of Arabic Literature is published by NYU Press and supported by a grant from the New York University Abu Dhabi Research Institute.{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Philip F. |date= |title=About the Library of Arabic Literature |url=http://www.libraryofarabicliterature.org/about-the-series/ |access-date=2015-03-13 |work=Library of Arabic Literature |language=en-US}}

The first volume was published in December 2012.

Awards

The Library of Arabic Literature's award-winning edition-translations include Leg Over Leg by Ahmad Faris al-Shidyaq, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies, which was shortlisted for the American Literary Translators Association's 2016 National Translation Award{{Cite news|url=https://literarytranslators.wordpress.com/2016/09/29/2016-nta-shortlists/|title=Announcing the 2016 NTA Shortlists in Poetry and Prose!|date=2016-09-29|work=ALTA Blog|access-date=2018-07-26|language=en-US}} and longlisted for the 2014 Best Translated Book Award, organized by Open Letter;{{Cite web|url=http://www.rochester.edu/College/translation/threepercent/2014/03/11/btba-2014-fiction-longlist-its-here/|title=BTBA 2014 Fiction Longlist: It's Here! « Three Percent|website=www.rochester.edu|language=en|access-date=2018-07-26}} Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal by Ibn al-Jawzi, edited and translated by Michael Cooperson,{{Cite news|url=https://nelc.ucla.edu/nelc/professor-cooperson-wins-sheikh-hamad-award-translation/|title=Professor Cooperson wins the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation - Near Eastern Languages & Cultures - UCLA|date=2016-12-14|work=Near Eastern Languages & Cultures - UCLA|access-date=2018-07-26|language=en-US}} which won the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding in 2016; The Epistle of Forgiveness by Al-Ma'arri, edited and translated by Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler, which won the Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding in 2015;{{Cite web|url=http://www.hta.qa/en/round/1/2015|title=Hamad Translation Award|website=Hamad Translation Award|language=en|access-date=2018-07-26}} and Impostures by al-Hariri, edited and translated by Michael Cooperson, which won the 2020 Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the Translation Category, shortlisted for the 2021 National Translation Award, was a Finalist for the 2021 PROSE Award in the Literature category, and was on The Wall Street Journal's list of Top 10 Books of the Year.

Publications

As of 2024, the Library of Arabic Literature has published more than fifty bilingual hardcover edition-translations and more than forty English-only paperbacks.{{Cite news |date=2012-04-04 |title=Our Books |url=http://www.libraryofarabicliterature.org/books/ |access-date=2018-07-26 |work=Library of Arabic Literature |language=en-US}} Arabic-only PDFs are also available for download from the website for free. All books are published in all three formats unless otherwise noted. Forewords only appear in the paperback versions.

= 2012 =

  • Classical Arabic Literature: A Library of Arabic Literature Anthology, translated by Geert Jan van Gelder (English only)

= 2013 =

  • Leg over Leg, Volume Two by Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies

= 2014 =

  • The Epistle of Forgiveness, Volume Two: Hypocrites, Heretics, and Other Sinners by Abū l-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī, edited and translated by Geert Jan van Gelder and Gregor Schoeler; foreword by Matthew Reynolds
  • A Treasury of Virtues: Sayings, Sermons, and Teachings of 'Ali, with the One Hundred Proverbs attributed to al-Jahiz by al-Qāḍī al-Quḍāʿī, edited and translated by Tahera Qutbuddin; foreword by Rowan Williams
  • Leg over Leg, Volume Three by Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies
  • Leg over Leg, Volume Four by Aḥmad Fāris al-Shidyāq, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies

= 2015 =

  • Virtues of the Imam Ahmad ibn Ḥanbal, Volume Two by Ibn al-Jawzī, edited and translated by Michael Cooperson
  • Consorts of the Caliphs: Women and the Court of Baghdad by Ibn al-Sāʿī, edited by Shawkat M. Toorawa and translated by The Editors of the Library of Arabic Literature; introduction by Julia Bray and foreword by Marina Warner

= 2016 =

  • Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded, Volume One by Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies; foreword by Youssef Rakha
  • Brains Confounded by the Ode of Abū Shādūf Expounded, Volume Two by Yūsuf al-Shirbīnī, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies
  • Risible Rhymes by Muḥammad ibn Maḥfūẓ al-Sanhūrī, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies (in paperback, collected with Brains Confounded, Volume Two)
  • Light in the Heavens: Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad by al-Qāḍī al-Quḍāʿī, edited and translated by Tahera Qutbuddin

= 2017 =

  • The Excellence of the Arabs by Ibn Qutaybah, translated by Sarah Bowen Savant and Peter Webb and edited by James E. Montgomery and Peter Webb
  • Scents and Flavors: A Syrian Cookbook, edited and translated by Charles Perry
  • Arabian Satire: Poetry from 18th-Century Najd by Ḥmēdān al-Shwēʿir, edited and translated by Marcel Kurpershoek

= 2018 =

  • In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People, Volume One by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies; introduction by R.S. O'Fahey
  • In Darfur: An Account of the Sultanate and Its People, Volume Two by Muḥammad al-Tūnisī, edited and translated by Humphrey Davies
  • Diwan ʿAntarah ibn Shaddad: A Literary-Historical Study by James E. Montgomery (Arabic text with English scholarly apparatus)
  • Arabian Romantic: Poems on Bedouin Life and Love by ʿAbdallāh ibn Sbayyil, edited and translated by Marcel Kurpershoek

Editorial Board Members

See also

References

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