George Grigore

George Grigore (born February 2, 1958) is a Romanian writer, essayist, translator, professor, researcher in Middle Eastern Studies.

Biography

George Grigore was born in the village of Grindu (southeastern Romania), on February 2, 1958. In 1983, he graduated the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Bucharest. In 1997, he earned a Ph.D. from the same university, with the dissertation entitled "Some Questions Regarding the Translation of the Qur’an into Romanian".

In 2000, as an editor-translator at Kriterion Publishing House [http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editura_Kriterion] , he launched the "Bibliotheca Islamica" collection, where he has published his own translations of numerous works fundamental to Islamic culture, and works of other translators. His translation of the "Qur’an" was most noteworthy and published in several editions, including a bilingual one, printed in Istanbul, in 2003. He has published studies on the "Qur’an" and Islam, as well as on the Arabic dialects, with a special focus on the dialects of Baghdad and Mardin. He has also undertaken research in Kurdish Studies.

Since 2001, George Grigore has been the associate editor of "Romano-Arabica", the academic review published by the Center of Arabic Studies at the University of Bucharest.

Grigore has published translations of Romanian literature into Arabic, among which "The Mould", by the Romanian playwright Marin Sorescu ("Al-Mağrā", Baghdad) and "The Tyranny of Dream", by the Romanian poet Carolina Ilica ("Taghyān al-Hulm", Lebanon). His anthology of Romanian poetry rendered into Arabic ("Kāna yağibu", Baghdad) has been awarded the prize of the Iraqi Writers Union.

In addition to lecturing at the University of Bucharest, Grigore has written various practical books for students of the Arabic language, such as dictionaries, a conversation guide, and a manual of orthography and calligraphy.

Affiliations

*Member of the "Association Internationale de Dialectologie Arabe"
*Member of the "Romanian Association for Religious Studies"
*Member of the "Writers’ Union of Romania"
*Honorary Member of the "Iraqi Writers’ Union"
*Member of the "Center of Arabic Studies", University of Bucharest

List of works and translations published (selection)

*"Poveşti irakiene" (Iraqi Tales), Coresi, 1993
*"Slujitorii Diavolului; Cartea Neagră, Cartea Dezvăluirii" (Worshipers of Devil. The Black Book, The Book of Revelation), Călin, 1994
*"Poporul kurd – file de istorie" (The Kurdish People. Pages of History), Interprint, 1997
*"Problematica traducerii Coranului în limba română" (Questions Regarding the Translation of the Qur’an into Romanian), Ararat, 1997
*"Dicţionar Arab-român" (Arabic-Romanian Dictionary), Teora, 1998
*"Coranul" (The Qur’an), Kriterion [http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editura_Kriterion] , 2000; 2002; Herald, 2005
*Al-Ghazali, "Firida luminilor" (), Kriterion, 2001
*Ibn Tufayl, [http://ar.wikisource.org/wiki/%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%86_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%84_-_%D8%AD%D9%8A_%D8%A8%D9%86_%D9%8A%D9%82%D8%B8%D8%A7%D9%86 "Hayy bin Yaqzan"] , Kriterion, 2001
*Ibn Ruşd, "Cuvânt hotărâtor" (Ibn Rushd – The Decisive Word), Kriterion, 2001
*Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, "Cuvinte" [Words] , Nesıl Yayınları, Istanbul, 2002
*Ibn 'Arabi, "Geneza cercurilor" [The Genesis of Circles] , Kriterion, 2003
*"Coranul" [The Qur’an – bilingual edition, Romanian-Arabic] , Çağrı Yayınları, Istanbul, 2003
*"Ochiul lăuntric – perspective islamice asupra divinităţii" [The Inner Eye. Islamic Perspectives on Divinity] , Herald, 2005
*"L’arabe parlé à Mardin. Monographie d’un parler arabe “périphérique”", Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2007 [http://www.arc-news.com/read.php?lang=en&id_articol=1059]
*‘Ali bin Abi Talib, "Nahj al-Balagha / Calea vorbirii alese" (Peak of Eloquence), Kriterion, 2008

External links

*A bibliography of George Grigore's works in Ioana Feodorov, "The Arab World in the Romanian Culture" [http://www.unibuc.ro/eBooks/filologie/arab/5.htm]
*The Chair of Oriental Languages, Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures, University of Bucharest [http://www.limbi-straine.ro/orientale.html]
*The Conference "The Qur'an: Text, Interpretation & Translation, The School of Oriental and African Studies", University of London [http://www.soas.ac.uk/centres/centreinfo.cfm?navid=997]
*Conference on Communication and Information Structure in Spoken Arabic, University of Maryland [http://register.casl.umd.edu/arabicconference]
*First International Symposium on Mardin History [http://www.mardin.gov.tr/turkce/sempozyum/kitapcikword.asp]
*Arab Studies at the University of Bucharest: 50 Years [http://www.unibuc.ro/eBooks/filologie/arab/Sectia_de_limba_si_literatura_araba_ENG.pdf]
*The Qur’an translated into Romanian by George Grigore [http://altafsir.com/ViewTranslations.asp?Display=yes&SoraNo=1&Ayah=0&Language=20&TranslationBook=12]