Salman Masalha


Salman Masalha is an Arab-Israeli poet, writer, essayist and translator. Masalha is a bilingual writer who writes in Arabic and Hebrew, and publishes in both languages. His poetry has also appeared in other languages. Masalha is a frequent contributor to left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Biography

Masalha was born on November 4, 1953, to a Druze family in Maghar, a village in the Galilee in northern Israel. After graduating from high school he moved to Jerusalem, where he has been living since 1972. Masalha studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holds a Ph.D. degree in Arabic literature. He wrote his thesis on the mythological elements of ancient Arabic poetry. 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.
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.

Writing

Research

Poetry

  • Ishq Mu'ajjal, Raya Publishing House, Haifa 2016
  • Fi al-Thara, Fi al-Hajar, Raya Publishing House, Haifa 2013
  • Lughat Umm, Zaman Publications, Jerusalem 2006
  • Ehad Mikan, Am Oved Publications, Tel Aviv 2004
  • Khana Farigha,, Zaman Publications, Jerusalem 2002.
  • Rish al-Bahr, Zaman Publications, Jerusalem 1999
  • Maqamat Sharqiyya, Jerusalem 1991
  • Ka-l-'Ankabut bila Khuyut, Jerusalem 1989
  • Maghnat Ta'ir al-Khuddar, al-Katib Publications, Jerusalem 1979

Op-Ed

Translations

Arabic into Hebrew
  • Mahmoud Darwish, Memory for Forgetfulness, also known: Beirut Diary, with commentary and epilogue, Schocken Publications, Tel Aviv 1989
  • Sahar Khalifah, Wild Thorns, Galileo Publications, Jerusalem 1978
Hebrew into Arabic
  • Efraim Sidon, Uzu and Muzu, Nazareth 2000
  • Jerusalem, Historical Studies, ed. Amnon Cohen, Yad Izhak Ben-Zvi Publications, Jerusalem 1990
  • Dror Green, The Intifadah Tales, Jerusalem 1989
  • Haim Gouri, "Selected Poems, with an Introduction", Masharef, No. 30, pp 204–231, 2007
  • Aharon Shabtai, "Schizophrenic Homeland", selected poems with an introduction, Masharef, No. 23, pp 94–118, 2004
  • Agi Mishol, "Selected Poems", Masharef, No. 17, pp 159–169, 2002
English into Arabic
  • Breyten Breytenbach, "selected poems", Masharef, No. 15, Haifa-Jerusalem, pp. 7–18
  • Wislawa Szymborska, "selected poems", Masharef, No. 13, Haifa-Jerusalem, pp. 82–96
  • Seamus Heaney, "selected poems", Masharef, No. 5, Haifa-Jerusalem, pp. 111–116, 1995

Editing