Professor Muhsin Al-Musawi

Muhsin Al-Musawi holds a Ph.D. in Arabic and Comparative Literary Studies from Columbia University, New York. Professor Musawi held several Academic and managerial positions including being Selected for Senior Professorship of Arabic at the American University in Cairo; Professor of Arabic Studies at American University of Sharjah (AUS); Affiliate Professor at Temple University; Professor of Arts at the University of Tunis, Manouba; Professor and Chair of Department, in Sana’a University, Yemen; Chairman of the Board, Cultural Affairs Foundation, Baghdad; Professor at Amman University, Jordan; Professor and Chair of Media Department at Baghdad University, Iraq; he is currently a Professor of Arabic literature at Columbia University, USA.

He has been a member of several Advisory Councils and Boards including: a member of the Board at the Arabic Language Center, Abu Dhabi; a chairman at the IRAF, (International Prize for Arabic Fiction); an evaluator at Freiburg Institute for Advanced Study (FRIAS) and University of Strasbourg Institute for Advanced Study (USIAS); an adviser to the British Royal Academy, the Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA), the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA); and the Modern Language Association; an honorary member at the Latin American Association for Writers; a chair at the Iraqi Critics’ Association; and a member of the Oriental Institute in Chicago.

Professor Musawi has published numerous research papers specialized in Arabic Literature Studies in English in refereed journals and periodicals. His scholarly and literary works include: Al-Thakirah Al-Shabiyyah Limujtama’at Alf Laylah Wa Laylah; Al-Kamil Fi Al-Lughah Al-Arabiyyah Wa Adabiha; Al-Nazariyah Wa Al-Naqd Al-Thaqafi; Al-Nukhbah Al-Fikriyyah Wa Al-Inshiqaq; Al‑Istishraq Fi Al‑Fikr Al‑Arabi; Ru’yat Al‑Rajul Al‑saghir Fi Al‑Qissah Al‑Qasirah; As’lat Al-Thaqafah; Nazariyyat Al-Riwayah; Naz‘at AI‑Hadathah Fi Al-Qissah Al‑Iraqiyyah; Al-Mawqif Al-Thawri  Fi  Al-Riwayyah Al-Arabiyyah.

His Publications comprise Autobiographical Disclosures: The Postcolonial Arabic Atlas; The Arabian Nights in World Literature; Arabic Poetry: Trajectories of Modernity and Tradition; Arabic Literary Thresholds; The Arabian Nights: Introduction and Notes; Arabic Poetry Trajectories of Modernity and Tradition; The Postcolonial Arabic Novel: Debating Ambivalence; Al-Turath Al-Thaqafi Al-Arabi; Mujtama Alf Laylah Wa Laylah; Infirat Al-Iqd Al-Muqaddas; Sardiyyat Al‑Asr Al‑Islama Al‑Wasit; Al-Wuqu Fi Da’rat Al-Sihr: Alf Layla Wa Layla Fi Al-Adab Al-Injlizi; Naz‘at AI‑Hadathah Fi Al-Qissah Al‑Iraqiyyah; Al-Madamin Al-Bourjiwaziyyah Fi  Al-Shia‘r.

He also edited and reviewed several collective books and journals in the field of Arabic Literature Studies in English, which include Editor of Journal of Arabic Literature in Leiden; Member of the Editorial Board; Editorial Board of The Cambridge Journal of Postcolonial Literary Inquiry; Present Editorial Board of Transforming Literary Studies: Crossing Boundaries; Modern Language Association of North America (MLA) Texts and Translations Editorial Committee; Editor of Orientalism Quarterly, Baghdad; Editor of Arab Horizons Monthly (in Arabic).

Professor Musawi was honored for his efforts in the field of Arabic Literature Studies in English with several awards, including: Sultan AL-Owais Culture Award in Literary Studies and Criticism in 2000, Kuwait Prize in Arabic Language and Literary Studies (KFAS) in 2018, and Tunis International Book Fair Prize in 2018.

This biography was written in the year the prize was awarded.