Said Yaktine (Mohamed V University in Rabat, Morocco) is a scholar of Arabic literature primarily concerned with literary theory and narratology. His most recent monograph, Arabic Narrative: Genres and Forms (al-Sard al-ʿarabī: anwāʿ wa-anmāṭ, 2022) continues his larger project of developing a theory of narrative for the Arabic literary tradition. He has also published numerous studies on modern and contemporary novels, as well as on popular literature, and writes frequently for journals and newspapers on current political and cultural issues. His work Arabic Literary Thought (al-Fikr al-adabī al-ʿarabī) won the Sheikh Zayed Book Award (Literary and Art Criticism) in 2016. In 2022, he received the Katara Prize for the Arabic Novel for his work Applied Narratology: Readings into the Narrativity of the Arabic Novel (al-Sardiyyāt al-taṭbīqiyya. Qirāʾāt fī al-riwāya al-ʿarabiyya).

The presentation will be held in Arabic.

The Kalīla and Dimna research colloquium promotes a number of international guest speakers in alternation with close reading sessions on manuscript editing and presentations of the team’s research topics. Discussion of methodological approaches and digital humanities issues are at the center of attention.

Colloquium sessions are being held in a hybrid fashion: while the personal encounter is made possible again, the advantages of remote access will not be lost. Colleagues, visiting scholars, and students (Arabic Studies or related disciplines) are cordially invited to participate. We especially welcome researchers based elsewhere than Freie Universität Berlin to join us for any one (or more) sessions.

For registration, please mail to: johannes.stephan@fu-berlin.de