Sinan Antoon ( ar, سنان أنطون), is an Iraqi poet, novelist, scholar, and literary translator. He has been described as "one of the most acclaimed authors of the Arab world." He is an associate professor at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

Life and career

Antoon was born in 1967 in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. He received his B.A. in English with distinction from the

University of Baghdad The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...

in 1990 with minors in Arabic and Translation. He left Iraq in 1991 after the onset of the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

and moved to the United States. He completed an M.A. in Arab Studies from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll in 1789 as Georgetown College, the university has grown to comprise eleven undergraduate and graduate ...

in 1995. In 2006, he received his Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

in Arabic and Islamic Studies. His doctoral dissertation was the first study on the 10th century poet, Ibn al-Hajjaj and the genre of poetry he pioneered (). "He was one of a coterie of dissident diasporic Iraqi intellectuals who opposed the 2003 US occupation of his homeland that led to the current post-colonial quagmire." Antoon was featured in the 2003 documentary film '' About Baghdad,'' which he also co-directed and co-produced. His articles have appeared in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', and in pan-Arab dailies including ''

al-Hayat Al-Hayat ( ar, الحياة meaning "Life") was a London-based, pan-Arab newspaper owned by Saudi Prince Khalid bin Sultan, that had a circulation estimated over 200,000. It was the newspaper of record for the Arab diaspora and the preferred v ...

'', '' al-Akhbar'' and ''

as-Safir ''As-Safir'' ( ar, السفير, lit=The Ambassador), was a leading Arabic-language daily newspaper in Lebanon. The headquarters of the daily was in Beirut. It was in circulation from March 1974 until December 2016. The last issue of the paper w ...

'' where he writes a weekly opinion column. His poems and novels have been translated to nine languages. He is also a co-founder and co-editor of the e-zine '' Jadaliyya''.

Literary works

Poetry

Antoon has published two collection of poetry in Arabic: ''Mawshur Muballal bil-Hurub'' (A Prism: Wet with Wars) (2003, Cairo) and ''Laylun Wahidun fi Kull al-Mudun'' (One Night in All Cities) (Beirut: Dar al-Jamal, 2010). He has published a collection in English entitled ''The Baghdad Blues'' (Harbor Mountain Press, 2006).

Novels

Antoon has published four novels: * (Beirut: Dar al-Adab, 2002 and later al-Jamal, 2014) was widely acclaimed in the Arab world and described as "the Iraqi novel par excellence." It was translated to English by Rebecca Johnson and the author as ''I`jaam: An Iraqi Rhapsody'' and published by CityLights Books in 2006. Other translations include German ( (Lenos), Norwegian, Italian, and Portuguese. * (''The Pomegranate Alone'') (Beirut: Dar al-Jamal, 2010) was translated by the author and published by Yale University Press in 2013 as ''The Corpse Washer'' and was longlisted for the Independent Prize for Foreign Fiction. It won the 2014 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Literary Translation. The Argentinian writer Alberto Manguel described as "one of the most extraordinary novels he's read in a long time." Th
French
translation () was published by Actes Sud in 2017 and won the 2017 for the best Arabic novel translated to French in 2017. Its translation in Malayalam language in the title was done by Dr. Shamnad N, Head of the department, University College, Trivandrum, Kerala. * (Ave Maria) (Beirut: Dar al-Jamal, 2012) was shortlisted for the

International Prize for Arabic Fiction The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) ( ar, الجائزة العالمية للرواية العربية) is the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic ...

(The Arabic Booker) and was translated to Spanish by María Luz Comendador and published by Turner Libros in May 2014 under the title . The English translation (by Maia Tabet) was published in 2017 a
The Baghdad Eucharist
by Hoopoe Books (AUC Press). * (Index) (Beirut: Dar al-Jamal, 2016). Was longlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction.

Honors and awards

* 201
Prix de la Litterature Arabe
for "Seul le Grenadier" (Actes Sud, 2017, tr. Leila Mansur) (Wahdaha Shajarat al-Rumman/The Corpse Washer). * 2017 "Fihris"(Index) longlisted for th
International Prize for Arabic Fiction
*2016/2017: Fellow at th
Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
(Institute of Advanced Study in Berlin). *2014
Saif Ghobash Prize for Literary Translation
for his translation of his own novel ''The Corpse Washer'' (The first self-translation to win the prize.) *2014: Arab American Book Award for ''The Corpse Washer'' *2014
Lannan Residency
(Marfa, TX). *2013:''Ya Maryam'' (''Ave Maria'') shortlisted for the 2013 International Prize of Arabic Fiction (The Arabic Booker) *2013: Berlin Prize Fellow at the

American Academy in Berlin The American Academy in Berlin is a private, independent, nonpartisan research and cultural institution in Berlin dedicated to sustaining and enhancing the long-term intellectual, cultural, and political ties between the United States and Germany ...

*2012: National Translation Award for his translation of

Mahmoud Darwish Mahmoud Darwish ( ar, محمود درويش, Maḥmūd Darwīsh, 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as the Palestinian national poet. He won numerous awards for his works. Darwish used Palestine ...

's ''In the Presence of Absence'' from the

American Literary Translators Association The American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) is an organization in the United States dedicated to literary translation. ALTA promotes literary translation through its annual conference, which draws hundreds of translators and literary profes ...

*2008: Postdoctoral Fellowship
EUME
(Europe in the Middle East/The Middle East in Europe), Berlin, Germany. *2002

for Dissertation Research in Original Sources.

Works

Books *
The Poetics of the Obscene: Ibn al-Hajjaj and Sukhf
'' Harvard University Press. 2006. *''The Baghdad Blues.'' Harbor Mountain Press. 2007. . * * ''Ya Maryam'' (''Ave Maria''). Dar al-Jamal. 2012. * *
The Baghdad Eucharist
'. Oxford University Press. 2017. . *
The Book of Collateral Damage
'. Yale University Press. 28 May 2019. . Film * '' About Baghdad''

References

External links

Official WebsiteDemocracy Now! Biography
*
Biography
from the Berlin International Literature Festival {{DEFAULTSORT:Antoon, Sinan Living people 1967 births Georgetown University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni New York University faculty Middle Eastern studies scholars Writers from Baghdad American people of Iraqi descent 21st-century Iraqi novelists Iraqi film directors 20th-century Iraqi poets University of Baghdad alumni 21st-century Iraqi poets