George Grigore


George Grigore or Gheorghe Grigore is a Romanian writer, essayist, translator, professor and researcher in Middle Eastern studies.

Biography

George Grigore was born in the village of Grindu, Ialomița, on 2 February 1958. In 1983, he graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Bucharest. In 1997, he earned a Ph.D. from the same university, with a dissertation titled Some Questions Regarding the Translation of the Qur’an into Romanian.
In 2000, as an editor-translator at Kriterion Publishing House, he launched the Bibliotheca Islamica collection, where he has published his own translations of numerous works fundamental to Islamic culture, and works of other translators. His translation of the Qur’an was most noteworthy and published in several editions, including a bilingual one, printed in Istanbul, in 2003. He has published studies on the Qur’an and Islam, as well as on the Arabic dialects, with a focus on the dialects of Baghdad and Mardin. He has also undertaken research in Kurdish Studies.
Since 2001, Grigore has been the associate editor of Romano-Arabica, the academic review published by the Centre of Arabic Studies at the University of Bucharest.
Grigore has published translations of Romanian literature into Arabic, including The Mould, by the Romanian playwright Marin Sorescu and The Tyranny of Dream, by the Romanian poet Carolina Ilica. His anthology of Romanian poetry translated into Arabic has been awarded a prize by the Iraqi Writers Union.
In addition to lecturing at the University of Bucharest, Grigore has written practical books for students of Arabic, such as dictionaries, a conversation guide, and a manual of orthography and calligraphy.
In 2023, he was awarded the Sheykh Hamad pentru Traducere și Înțelegere Internațională, for the body of his translation work.

Affiliations

  • Member of the International Association of Arabic Dialectology
  • Member of the Romanian Association for Religious Studies
  • Member of the Writers' Union of Romania
  • Honorary Member of the Iraqi Writers' Union
  • Member of the Centre of Arabic Studies, University of Bucharest
  • Ambassador of Alliance of Civilizations for Romania

    List of works and translations published (selection)

  • L’arabe parlé à Mardin. Monographie d'un parler arabe "périphérique", Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2007
  • Problematica traducerii Coranului în limba română, Ararat, 1997
  • Poveşti irakiene, Coresi, 1993
  • Slujitorii Diavolului; Cartea Neagră, Cartea Dezvăluirii, Călin, 1994
  • Poporul kurd – file de istorie, Interprint, 1997
  • Dicţionar Arab-român, Teora, 1998
  • Coranul,, 2000; 2002; Herald, 2005
  • Al-Ghazali, Firida luminilor, Kriterion, 2001
  • Ibn Tufayl, Hayy bin Yaqzan, Kriterion, 2001
  • Ibn Ruşd, Cuvânt hotărâtor, Kriterion, 2001
  • Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, Cuvinte , Nesıl Yayınları, Istanbul, 2002
  • Ibn 'Arabi, Geneza cercurilor , Kriterion, 2003
  • Coranul , Çağrı Yayınları, Istanbul, 2003
  • Ochiul lăuntric – perspective islamice asupra divinităţii , Herald, 2005
  • ‘Ali bin Abi Talib, Nahj al-Balagha / Calea vorbirii alese, Kriterion, 2008
  • Mahmoud Darwish, Sunt arab. Poeme. Kriterion, 2009
  • Ibn Sīnā, The Book of Definitions. Translation from the Arabic language, analysis and bibliography by George Grigore. Notes and comments by George Grigore, Alexander Baumgarten, Paula Tomi and Mădălina Pantea. Chronological table by Gabriel Bițună. Critical transcription of the Latin version of the treaty and the comments of Andrea Alpago, along with the translation of the comments in the Romanian language, by Alexander Baumgarten. Iași: Polirom Publishing House, Medieval Library Series, 2012.