Salman Masalha (, ; born November 4, 1953) is an Arab-Israeli poet, writer, essayist and translator. Masalha is a bilingual writer who writes in

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

, and publishes in both languages. His poetry has also appeared in other languages. Masalha is a frequent contributor to left-leaning Israeli newspaper

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

Biography

Masalha was born on November 4, 1953, to a

Druze The Druze ( ; , ' or ', , '), who Endonym and exonym, call themselves al-Muwaḥḥidūn (), are an Arabs, Arab Eastern esotericism, esoteric Religious denomination, religious group from West Asia who adhere to the Druze faith, an Abrahamic ...

family in Maghar, a village in the

Galilee Galilee (; ; ; ) is a region located in northern Israel and southern Lebanon consisting of two parts: the Upper Galilee (, ; , ) and the Lower Galilee (, ; , ). ''Galilee'' encompasses the area north of the Mount Carmel-Mount Gilboa ridge and ...

in northern

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. After graduating from high school he moved to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, where he has been living since 1972. Masalha studied at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

and holds a Ph.D. degree in

Arabic literature Arabic literature ( / ALA-LC: ''al-Adab al-‘Arabī'') is the writing, both as prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is ''Adab (Islam), Adab'', which comes from a meaning of etiquett ...

. He wrote his thesis on the mythological elements of ancient

Arabic poetry Arabic poetry ( ''ash-shi‘r al-‘arabīyy'') is one of the earliest forms of Arabic literature. Pre-Islamic Arabic poetry contains the bulk of the oldest poetic material in Arabic, but Old Arabic inscriptions reveal the art of poetry existe ...

. He taught Arabic language and literature at the Hebrew University and served as co-editor of the Concordance of Early Arabic Poetry. One volume of the concordance titled ''Six Early Arab Poets: New Edition and Concordance'' was published in 1999.

Writing career

Masalha is the author of eight volumes of poetry. Some of his Arabic and Hebrew poems have been performed to music and recorded by leading Israeli and Palestinian musicians, including Marwan Abado, Kamilya Jubran, Micha Shitrit, and

Yair Dalal Yair Dalal (; born 25 July 1955) is an Israeli musician of Iraqi-Jewish descent. His main instruments are the oud and the violin, and he also sings as accompaniment. He composes his own music and draws on Arab and Jewish traditions, as well as ...

. In 2006, Masalha was awarded the Israel's President's Prize for Literature for his collection of Hebrew poetry ''In Place''. After first declaring he intended to boycott the 2015 general election, he ultimately endorsed

Meretz Meretz (, ; ) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party was formed in 1992 by the merger of Ratz, Mapam and Shinui, and was at its peak between 1992 and 1996 when it had 12 seats. It had no seats in the Knesset following its failure ...

Writing

Essays

* * * * *

Research

* *''Six Early Arab Poets, new edition and concordance'', (co-author), Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Max Schloessinger Memorial Series, Jerusalem 1999 *

Poetry

*''Ishq Mu'ajjal'' (Deferred Love, Arabic: عشق مؤجل), Raya Publishing House, Haifa 2016 *''Fi al-Thara, Fi al-Hajar'' (In Dust, In Stone, Arabic: في الثرى، في الحجر), Raya Publishing House, Haifa 2013 *''Lughat Umm'' (Mother Tongue, Arabic: لغة أم), Zaman Publications, Jerusalem 2006 *''Ehad Mikan'' (In Place, Hebrew: אחד מכאן), Am Oved Publications, Tel Aviv 2004 *''Khana Farigha'', (Blank Space, Arabic: خانة فارغة), Zaman Publications, Jerusalem 2002. *''Rish al-Bahr'' (Sea Feathers, Arabic: ريش البحر), Zaman Publications, Jerusalem 1999 *''Maqamat Sharqiyya'' (Oriental Scales, Arabic: مقامات شرقيّة), Jerusalem 1991 *''Ka-l-'Ankabut bila Khuyut'' (Like a Spider without Webs, Arabic: كالعنكبوت بلا خيوط), Jerusalem 1989 *''Maghnat Ta'ir al-Khuddar'' (Green Bird Song, Arabic: مغناة طائر الخضّر), al-Katib Publications, Jerusalem 1979

Op-Ed

Israeli apartheid exposed at the airport
Haaretz, Jun. 5, 2014 (article screen-shot is reproduced a
falkland-islands Tumblr
.

Translations

Arabic into Hebrew *

Mahmoud Darwish Mahmoud Darwish (; 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinians, Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as Palestine's national poet. In 1988 Darwish wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which was the formal declarat ...

, '' Memory for Forgetfulness'', also known: ''Beirut Diary'' (Arabic: ذاكرة للنسيان, Hebrew: זכר לשכחה), with commentary and epilogue, Schocken Publications, Tel Aviv 1989 *Sahar Khalifah, ''Wild Thorns'' (Arabic: الصبّار, Hebrew: הצבר), Galileo Publications, Jerusalem 1978 Hebrew into Arabic *Efraim Sidon, ''Uzu and Muzu'' (Hebrew: אוזו ומוזו מכפר קאקרוזו, Arabic: أوزو وموزو من كفر كاكاروزو), Nazareth 2000 *''Jerusalem, Historical Studies'' (Arabic: القدس، دراسات في تاريخ المدينة), ed. Amnon Cohen, Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Publications, Jerusalem 1990 *

Dror Green Dror Green (; born 1954) is a psychotherapist and author. He developed the methods of Emotional Training and Emotional Thinking, based on his concept of human nature. Although he was descended from a family that had lived in Israel for te ...

, ''The Intifadah Tales'' (Hebrew: אגדות האינתפאדה, Arabic: حكايا الانتفاضة), Jerusalem 1989 *

Haim Gouri Haim Gouri (; Gurfinkel; 9 October 1923 – 31 January 2018) was an Israeli poet, novelist, journalist, and documentary film, documentary director (film), filmmaker. He was awarded the Israel Prize for poetry in 1988 and was the #Awards and rec ...

, "Selected Poems, with an Introduction" (Arabic: خلخال ينتظر الكاحل), ''Masharef'', No. 30, pp 204–231, 2007 * Aharon Shabtai, ''Schizophrenic Homeland", (Arabic: شيزوفرينيا الوطن), selected poems with an introduction, ''Masharef'', No. 23, pp 94–118, 2004 *

Agi Mishol Agi Mishol (; born October 20, 1947) is an Israeli poet. Mishol's work has been published in several languages, and has won various awards including the Zbigniew Herbert International Literary Award, the Horst Bienek Prize for Poetry and the Ye ...

, ''Selected Poems'', ''Masharef'', No. 17, pp 159–169, 2002 English into Arabic *

Breyten Breytenbach Breyten Breytenbach (; 16 September 193924 November 2024) was a South African writer, poet, and painter. He became internationally well-known as a dissident poet and vocal critic of South Africa under apartheid, and as a political prisoner of ...

, "selected poems", ''Masharef'', No. 15, Haifa-Jerusalem, pp. 7–18 (1997) * Wislawa Szymborska, "selected poems", ''Masharef'', No. 13, Haifa-Jerusalem, pp. 82–96 (1997) *

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish Irish poetry, poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is ''Death of a Naturalist'' (1966), his first m ...

, "selected poems", ''Masharef'', No. 5, Haifa-Jerusalem, pp. 111–116, 1995

Editing

*''Biblical Stories in Islamic Paintings'' (Arabic: قصص التّوراة في الرسومات الإسلامية), Israel Museum 1992

References

External links

Salman Masalha, "In Place"
on

blogspot Blogger is an American online content management system founded in 1999 that enables its users to write blogs with time-stamped entries. Pyra Labs developed it before being acquired by Google in 2003. Google hosts the blogs, which can be acc ...

* on

Poetry International Web Poetry International Web is an international webzine and a poetry archive put together by a collective body of editors around the world and centrally edited in Rotterdam. It was originally launched in 2002. The site presents poetry from many coun ...

"A Homeland of All its Citizens"
''Haaretz'', September 21, 2006

''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', May 17, 2008
"Patches of Color"
Haaretz, December 7, 2007

in ''

Eurozine ''Eurozine '' is a network of European cultural magazines based in Vienna, linking up more than 90 partner journals and just as many associated magazines and institutions from nearly all European countries. ''Eurozine'' is also an online magazin ...

''
"Israeli Apartheid Exposed at the Airport"
''Haaretz,'' Jun. 5, 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Masalha, Salman 1953 births Hebrew-language poets Hebrew-language writers Israeli Druze people Living people 20th-century Palestinian poets Israeli Arabic-language poets Palestinian translators Palestinian literary critics International Writing Program alumni 21st-century Palestinian poets