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Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp is a British translator of Arabic, German and Russian into English, with a particular interest in contemporary prose fiction, politics and history. With a BA in German and Russian from Oxford University, and a Postgraduate Diploma and MA in Translation and Interpreting from Bath University, Ruth started her career as a linguist and researcher with the UK government, where she started studying Arabic intensively in 2004.
Now a freelance translator and editor, she translates and provides reader reports for various UK publishers including Bloomsbury and Orion. In 2012 she was named as one of the New Books in German magazine’s Emerging Translators and in 2013 she was awarded a mentorship with the British Centre for Literary Translation. She also translates commercially and for a number of charities and NGOs, and is a part-time teacher of Arabic at Cheltenham Ladies College.
Contributor's Issues
Banipal 52 - New Fiction (2015)
The Tent Generations
Things I Left Behind by Shada Mustafa, translated by Nancy Roberts
Shadow of the Sun by Taleb Alrefai
Birds of Nabaa, A Mauritanian Tale by Abdallah Uld Mohamadi Bah
The Stone Serpent, Barates of Palmyra’s Elegy for Regina his Beloved by Nouri Al-Jarrah
Mansi A Rare Man in His Own Way by Tayeb Saleh (Banipal Books, 2020)
Tayeb Salih
Goat Mountain by Habib Selmi
Habib Selmi, author of Goat Mountain and 3 times shortlisted for the IPAF
The Mariner by Taleb Alrefai (Banipal Books, 2020)
Taleb Alrefai, author of Shadow of the Sun and The Mariner
Digital images
Fadhil Al-Azzawi's Beautiful Creatures by Fadhil al-Azzawi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Fadhil al-Azzawi
Poems of Alexandria and New York by Ahmed Morsi (Banipal Books, 2021)
Digital Banipal promotion B67
Saïd Khatibi
Amjad Nasser (1955–2019)
Digital Banipal the full archive
Denys Johnson-Davies (1922–2017) 70 years translating Arabic literature
Ahmed Morsi, author of Poems of Alexandria and New York
Sarajevo Firewood
The Madness of Despair
Mahmoud Shukair – see special feature of Banipal 70 (Spring 2021)
LATEST NEWS
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Link to poems by Mosab Abu Toha, published in Banipal 71 (Summer 2021), available to read online
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Link to poem by Liana Badr published in Banipal 74, now available as an online selection
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GRIFFIN PRIZE SHORTLIST 2023
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Banipal's first audiobook* * *
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Banipal Book Club
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