biography

Haytham el-Wardany (C) private.

Haytham el-Wardany is an Egyptian writer and translator. He lives and works in Berlin, and writes short stories and experimental prose. His praxis focuses on fiction, especially short stories, and nonfiction formats, like essays, and fragmental prose.

Currently teaching the spring semester 2023 at Bard College, New York.

Translated Books:

  • Sömnboken The Swedish translation of The Book of Sleep by Anna Jansson, from Nirstedt publishing house, 2023.
  • The Book of Sleep, collection of fragments, translated into English by Robin Moger, Seagull Books, Kolkata, India, 2020.
  • How to Disappear, prose, translation in English, Kayfa Ta Publications, Cairo 2013/ Sternberg Press, Berlin/NY 2018
  • Cómo Desaparecer, prose, translation of How to Disappear in Spanish, ñ editions, Mexico City, 2016
  • Forthcoming: Things That Can’t Be Fixed, short story collection, translated by Katharine Halls.

Grants and awards (selection):

  • Keith Haring Fellowship 2022/2023
  • Cairo International Book Fair Award for the best short stories collection of the year for Irremediable, Cairo 2021
  • City of Berlin grant for literature 2021.
  • AFAC(Arab Fund for Arts and Cultures) grant for creative and critical writing, Beirut 2019
  • Thkio Ppalies International Art Residency, Nicosia – Cyprus, 2021
  • The CMBB Para Site International Art Residency (PS IAR), Hong Kong 2018
  • Cairo International Book Fair Award for the best collection of the year for Daydream, Cairo 2011
  • Sawiris Award for the best new comer writer for Club of Unfinished Literature, Cairo 2005

Workshops (selection):

  • Co-organizing a writing workshop entitled writing lab, with Prof. Islam Dayeh in FU 2022 
  • Conceptualization and supervising of a four months writing workshop entitled Place Of Writing, with participation of 10 young Arabic speaking authors and artists. The Workshop is cooperation between Archive Kabinett and Arab Funds of Arts and Culture (AFAC), Berlin. 2019
  • Conduction and conceptualization of a four months long workshop entitled Writing and Disaster, dedicated to new arriving Arabic authors to Berlin, in Archive Kabinett, with cooperation with Arab Funds of Arts and Culture (AFAC), Berlin. 2018
  • Conceptualizing of workshop entitled Dialectics of Sleep and Vigilance in DAI (Dutsch Art Institute), Arnheim, 2018

Translations into Arabic:

  • Renitente Schweine und die Geburt der Fabrik, Fahim Amir, Schwein Und Zeit, Edition Nautilus, 2018.
  • How To Spell The Fight by Natascha Sadr Haghighian. translated from English into Arabic. Published by Kayfa Ta. Cairo/Amman.
  • selected texts by Walter Benjamin, in the forthcoming volume “Walter Benjamin – selected writings”, publication of Doha institute of social studies.