Hartmut Fähndrich born 14 October 1944 in Tübingen is a German scholar and translator living in Switzerland since 1972. He specialises in translation of Arabic literature into German and has translated more than 70 titles of contemporary Arabic literature into German so far. Between 1984 - 2010 he was appointed as editor of the Arabic Literature series of LENOS publishing house based in Basel, Switzerland.
1951-63 Elementary School then High School (Classical languages)
1966-72 Studies of Semitic Philology, Islamic Studies, Philosophy, Arabic and Comparative Literature at the universities of Tübingen, Münster (Germany), Los Angeles (UCLA), and Philadelphia (summer school 1969)
1971 "Master of Arts" (M.A.) in Comparative Literature (UCLA)
1972 "Ph.D." in Islamic Studies (UCLA) [Special field: classical Arabic literature]
1972-74 Post-doctoral work on a special research project on the history of medicine in the Muslim world
1972-95 Regular courses given at the University of Bern [Arabic literature and history]
1974-77 Research scholarship from the Swiss National Foundation [Classical Arabic literature]
1977 Summer school at the University of Istanbul [Turkish]
since 1978 Lecturer of Arabic language and civilization at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich
1984 until 2010: Editor in charge of the collection "Arabic Literature" at the LENOS publishing house in Basel.
Frequent contacts with authors all over the Arab World. Translation of numerous works (over 55 titles to date) from contemporary Arabic literature
1988 Literary Award from the city of Bern for the translation of the novel al-Lajna by Sonallah Ibrahim
1990-97 Cofounder and president of the "Swiss Society of the Middle East and the Muslim World"
1992 Translation scholarship awarded by the Swiss Cultural foundation "Pro Helvetia"
1993 Visiting professor at the university of Freiburg i.Br. in Germany
1995 Visiting professor at the university of Naples in Italy
Cofounder of a European translation project of Arabic literature called "Mémoires de la Méditerrannée" (active until 2001)
Recipient of the "Hieronymus-Ring" ("Ring of Jerome") an award given by the German Association of Translators
1996 Literary Award from the city of Bern for the translation of the novel at-Tibr by Ibrahim al-Koni
1997 Visiting professor at the university Lyon II in France
1998 Translation scholarship awarded by the city and the canton of Bern for the translation of the novel al-Majûs by Ibrahim al-Koni
Organizer/Coorganizer of several activities in Middle Eastern studies:
International colloquium on teaching Arabic (April)
Exposition of the work of an Egyptian calligrapher
International colloquium on "IslaMedicine" (October)
2001 Translation scholarship awarded by the Swiss Cultural Foundation "Pro Helvetia"
2003 Organizer of an international colloquium on the topic:
"Son Succeeds Father as Head of State". Dynasties and their creation in the Arab world. (The Proceedings have been published in German in May 2005)
2004 Literary Award from the Arab League for the translation of contemporary Arabic literature into German
2005 Literary Award from the canton of Bern for "making accessible the works of Ibrahim al-Koni in German
2006 Honored by the Supreme Council for Culture at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture for "services rendered to Arabic literature as a translator"
2008 Member of the jury of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (Arabic Booker) seitenanfang
2009 Recipient of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Abdallah Ibn Abdalaziz' International Award of Translation (Saudi-Arabia)
2013 Médaille Joseph Zaarour (Université Saint Joseph, Beirut)
2014 End of teaching at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich
2016 Swiss Literary Award : Special Prize for Translation
2018 Sheikh Hamad Award for Translation and International Understanding (Qatar)
Book of the Month September 2023 Kleine Festungen - Small Fortresses
A writer, a vision, a journey: a conversation with Hartmut Fähndrich
