A Joint Symposium with King Faisal Prize ‒ October 23, 2026
This Symposium is dedicated to the Memory of the late Comparatist and friend Professor Muhammad Shaheen of Jordan University.
REGISTER HERE
PROGRAM
9:00–10:00 AM
WELCOME AND REFRESHMENTS
10:00–10:10 AM
OPENING REMARKS
Timothy Mitchell, Chair and William B. Ransford Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, MESAAS, Columbia University
Session I: Narratology: Theoretical Impasse
Chair: Elizabeth Holt, Associate Professor of Languages and Literature, Bard College
10:10–10:30 AM
The Combinatorial Plot Device in Pulp Fiction
Dennis Yi Tenen, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Director of the Narrative Intelligence Lab, Columbia University
10:30–10:50 AM
The Concept of Narrative in Arabic Literature
Dr. Abdulaziz Alsebail, Secretary General, King Faisal International Prize
10:50–11:10 AM
Crossing Euro-Centric Narratological Bounds: Two Steps Forward
Muhsin J. al-Musawi, Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature, Columbia University; King Faisal Prize Laureate
11:10–11:25 AM (ZOOM)
How Do I Write?
Hala Kawtharani, Writer
11:25–11:40 AM
DISCUSSION
11.45 AM–12:45 PM
LUNCH
Session II: Other Turns in Narrative and Narratology
Chair: Hanadi al-Samman, Associate Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Virginia
12:45–1:05 PM
Cadastres
Elizabeth Holt, Associate Professor of Languages and Literature, Bard College
1:05–1:25 PM
The Arab Apocalyptic Narrative in Contemporary Fiction
Ikram Masmoudi, Associate Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Delaware
1:25–1:45 PM
Poetics of Investigation in Sunallah Ibrahim’s Zaat
Emily Drumsta, Assistant Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin
1:45–2:05 PM
Narrating Minoritarian Difference in Contemporary Arabic Literature
Hanadi al-Samman, Associate Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Virginia
2:05–2:20 PM (ZOOM; In French)
When Writing a Novel: Recollections
Najwa Barakat, Writer
2:20–2:35 PM
DISCUSSION
SESSION III: Earlier Narrative Trends in Arabic Cultural Tradition and Beyond
Chair: Ikram Masmoudi, Associate Professor of Arabic Language and Literature, University of Delaware
2:45–3:05 PM
Narrative Miniatures in Ibn Abī ʿAwn’s Kitāb al-Ajwibah al-Muskitah
Chiara Fontana, Assistant Professor of Arabic Literature and Philology, Alma Mater Studiorum ‒ University of Bologna
3:05–3:25 PM
The Art of Rewriting the Sīrah of the Prophet in Pre-Modern Times
Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Georgetown University, and King Faisal Prize Laureate
3:25-3:45 PM
From Aleppo to Zazamanc: Mapping Imagined Easts in Medieval German Narrative
Davide Bertagnolli, Associate Professor of German Philology, Alma Mater Studiorum ‒ University of Bologna
3:45-4:00 PM (ZOOM)
Writing the Qasim Trilogy
Ali Bader, Writer
4:00–4:15 PM
DISCUSSION
4:15–4:45 PM
OPEN FORUM
5:00 PM
DINNER
Faculty House, 4th Floor