Sawad Hussain will highlight how she has courted authors and editors, and then played guardian and censor – sometimes against her better judgments – in order to bring literary works from Arabic into English. She will discuss the roles and responsibilities a translator assumes when bringing a text from less commonly translated languages into diverse commercial Anglophone arenas. She will underscore the political and social reasons that influence how much of the original text and themes make it into the published book in translation.
 

Sawad Hussain is a translator from Arabic whose work has been recognized by, among others, The Warwick Prize for Women in Translation and the National Book Award for Translated Literature. She is a judge for the Palestine Book Awards, and has run translation workshops for Shadow Heroes, Africa Writes, the Yiddish Book Center, the British Library, and the National Centre for Writing. Her latest co-translation is The Book Censor's Library. A former Co-Chair of the Translator's Association (UK), she is committed to mentoring literary translators and developing the industry in general.

Related Events to Sawad Hussain's Residency:

Not So Simple! Translating Young Adult Literature as Resistance and Entertainment
Wednesday, May 7, 6:00-8:00 pm 
Location: Folio

Selling Literature: What’s a Translator Got to Do with It? 
Thursday, May 8, 11:30 am-1:00 pm
Location: Communications 202

Northwest Literary Translators: Reception and Q&A with Translator Sawad Hussain 
Thursday May 8, 5:30-8:00 pm
Location: Seattle Public Library Central Branch
(Registration is required for this event)