Graduate School Alum Mattawa Receives MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’
Khaled Mattawa, who received a Ph.D. in English from The Graduate School, has received a 2014 MacArthur Fellowship.
Mattawa has made his mark as a cultural ambassador and poet-translator of Arabic poetry, giving voice to a vast literature largely unknown in the Western hemisphere. He has published English translations, many the first available, of the work of contemporary poets highly respected in the Arab world, such as Amjad Nasser (Jordan), Saadi Youssef (Iraq), Adonis (Syria), and Fadhil Al-Azzawi (Iraq). He also has translated works of women poets whose names may be less familiar, such as Iman Mersal (Egypt), Joumana Haddad (Lebanon), and Maram Al-Massri (Syria).
Mattawa is one of 21 recipients for this year’s MacArthur Fellowships, popularly known as “Genius Grants.” He received his Ph.D. from Duke in 2009, with Professor Srinivas Aravamudan serving as his adviser. Mattawa is currently an associate professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Story adapted from Duke Today; photo courtesy of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation