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Somaya Ramadan

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Somaya Yehia Ramadan
سمية رمضان
Born1951 (1951)
Died (aged 73)
Alma materCairo University, Trinity College, Dublin
Notable workLeaves of Narcissus
AwardsNaguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature

Somaya Yehia Ramadan (1951 - 20 August 2024) was an Egyptian academic, translator and writer. She is mainly known for her 2001 novel Awraq Al-Nargis, published in English as Leaves of Narcissus that won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature and for her Arabic translation of Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own.

Biography

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Ramadan was born in Cairo in 1951 and studied English literature at Cairo University. Subsequently, she obtained a PhD in English from Trinity College, Dublin, in 1983.[1]

Ramadan's first two books were short story collections: Khashab wa Nahass (Wood and Brass) and Manazil al-Qamar (Phases of the Moon). Her first novel Awraq Al-Nargis (Leaves of Narcissus) published in 2001, set largely in Ireland and centred aroung the notion of exile, won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature.[2] It was translated into English by Marilyn Booth and published in 2006 by AUC Press.[3] The same year, a French translation was published as Feuilles de Narcisse.[4] Commenting on her literary technique and narrative style, the jury for this prestigious Egyptian literary prize wrote:[5]

The novel is supremely complex, with modernist techniques pushed to the utmost, and thus maintaining all along a superb and vibrant creative tension. Marked by a hallucinating and captivating narration, this is liminal writing par excellence: writing while gazing at the abyss of being.

Ramadan also worked extensively as a translator. Among her translations is Virginia Woolf's A Room of One's Own. Further, she was a founding member of the Women and Memory Forum, a non-profit organisation, and taught English and Translation at the National Academy of Arts in Cairo.[5]

Ramadan was an Egyptian Baha'i and author of a non-fiction book, where she tried to clarify common misunderstandings about this faith.[6] She died on 19 August 2024, at the age of 73.[7]

Works

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Ramadan's works include:

  • Khashab wa-nuḥās (Wood and Brass), short stories,1995
  • Manāzil al-Qamar (Phases of the Moon), short stories, 1999
  • Awraq al-Nargis, novel, 2001 Leaves of Narcissus, translated by Marilyn Booth, Cairo: AUC Press, ISBN 9789774160585.
  • Ṭarīq al-mustaqbal: ruʼyah Bahāʼīyah' (Path of the Future: Baha'i Faith), non-fiction work

Literature

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  • Muhammad Birairi (2002). "فعل الكتابة وسؤال الوجود: قراءة في أوراق سمية رمضان النرجسية / Writing and Being: A Reading of Somaya Ramadan's Leaves of Narcissus". Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics (22). Cairo: The American University in Cairo: 94–113. doi:10.2307/1350064. JSTOR 1350064. Retrieved 30 October 2020.

References

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  1. ^ Author profile in the English PEN World Atlas Somaya Ramadan at the Wayback Machine (archived 6 October 2011)
  2. ^ Johnson-Davies, Denys, ed. (31 March 2010). "Somaya Ramadan". The Anchor Book of Modern Arabic Fiction (2010 ed.). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 356. ISBN 9780307481481.
  3. ^ Hasna Reda-Mekdashi (2008). Arab Women Writers A Critical Reference Guide, 1873-1999. American University in Cairo Press. p. 143. ISBN 9789774161469. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Feuilles de narcisse | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Naguib Mahfouz Medal-winning Novelist Somaya Ramadan Dies, 73". ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY. 20 August 2024. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
  6. ^ Lucy Provan (14 October 2012). "Bahaʼis in Egypt - The 25 January revolution gave everyone hope for change, and the Bahaʼi hope for acceptance". Daily News Egypt. Egypt. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  7. ^ "أكاديمية الفنون تنعى المترجمة وأستاذة النقد الأدبي سمية رمضان". Elwatan News. 20 August 2024. Retrieved 20 August 2024.