Elliott Colla is an American academic, translator and author specializing in Arabic literature

Arabic literature

Arabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and implies politeness, culture and enrichment....

 and culture. He studied at the University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley

The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...

, completing his Bachelor's degree in 1989 and subsequently a PhD in comparative literature

Comparative literature

Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...

 in 2000. He is currently Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Georgetown University

Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

.

Colla has written extensively on various aspects of Arabic culture. He is the author of a book entitled Conflicted Antiquities: Egyptology, Egyptomania, Egyptian Modernity (2007). He is highly regarded as a translator of contemporary Arabic literature, and his book-length translations include Gold Dust and The Animists (forthcoming) by Ibrahim al-Koni

Ibrahim Al-Koni

Ibrahim Al-Koni is a Libyan writer and one of the most prolific Arabic novelists.Born in 1948 in the Fezzan Region, Ibrahim al-Koni was brought up on the tradition of the Tuareg, popularly known as "the veiled men" or "the blue men." Mythological elements, spiritual quest and existential...

, Poor by Idris Ali

Idris Ali

Idris Ali was an Egyptian author of Nubian origin. He was born in Aswan in Upper Egypt and studied at Al-Azhar University. He published his first story in 1969, and eventually wrote six novels and three short story collections...

, and The Heron by Ibrahim Aslan. His translation of Gold Dust was runner-up for the Banipal Prize in 2009.
His translation of Rabai Madhoun's The Lady from Tel Aviv won a PEN supporting award in November 2011.

Colla also served on the judging panel of the 2010 Banipal Prize (won by Humphrey Davies).

Author

• Conflicted Antiquities: Egyptology, Egyptomania, Egyptian Modernity. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007.

Translator

• Ibrahim al-Koni
  Ibrahim Al-Koni
  Ibrahim Al-Koni is a Libyan writer and one of the most prolific Arabic novelists.Born in 1948 in the Fezzan Region, Ibrahim al-Koni was brought up on the tradition of the Tuareg, popularly known as "the veiled men" or "the blue men." Mythological elements, spiritual quest and existential...
  
   - Gold Dust
• Ibrahim al-Koni - The Animists
• Ibrahim Aslan - The Heron
• Idris Ali
  Idris Ali
  Idris Ali was an Egyptian author of Nubian origin. He was born in Aswan in Upper Egypt and studied at Al-Azhar University. He published his first story in 1969, and eventually wrote six novels and three short story collections...
  
   - Poor
• Rabai Madhoun - The Lady from Tel Aviv