We are very pleased to announce the 2026 Farhat J. Ziadeh Distinguished Lecture in Arab and Islamic Studies, to be delivered by Shawkat M. Toorawa (Yale University).
His talk, titled "Finding True North: Reflections on the Translation of Arabic Literature," will take place on Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 7:00 PM, in the Walker Ames Room, Kane Hall (University of Washington). A reception will follow. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Professor Toorawa is Brand Blanshard Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations and Professor of Comparative Literature at Yale. His work spans classical and modern Arabic literature, with particular strength in Abbasid literary culture, poetics, and translation. He is also widely known for his role as an executive editor of the Library of Arabic Literature, where he has contributed to making key Arabic texts available in reliable bilingual editions. His translations include works by Adonis, among others.
In this lecture, Professor Toorawa reflects on translation not simply as a technical act, but as a sustained engagement with language, form, and literary history. Drawing on his long experience as both scholar and translator, he will consider how Arabic texts are re-situated in new linguistic and intellectual contexts, and what may be gained—and altered—in that process.
This will be of particular interest to those working on Arabic literature, translation, and the broader question of how texts move across languages and traditions.