Salman Masalha (, ; born November 4, 1953) is an Israeli poet, writer, essayist and translator. Masalha is a bilingual writer who writes in Arabic and Hebrew, and publishes in both languages. His poetry has also appeared in other languages. Masalha is a frequent contributor to left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Biography

Masalha was born on November 4, 1953, to a Druze family in Maghar, a village in the Galilee in northern Israel. After graduating from high school he moved to Jerusalem, where he has been living since 1972. Masalha studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and holds a Ph.D. degree in Arabic literature. He wrote his thesis on the mythological elements of ancient Arabic poetry. He taught Arabic language and literature at the Hebrew University and served as co-editor of the Concordance of Early Arabic Poetry. One volume of the concordance titled Six Early Arab Poets: New Edition and Concordance was published in 1999.

Writing career

Masalha is the author of eight volumes of poetry. Some of his Arabic and Hebrew poems have been performed to music and recorded by leading Israeli and Palestinian musicians, including Marwan Abado, Kamilya Jubran, Micha Shitrit, and Yair Dalal. In 2006, Masalha was awarded the Israel's President's Prize for Literature for his collection of Hebrew poetry In Place. After first declaring he intended to boycott the 2015 general election, he ultimately endorsed Meretz.

Writing

Essays

Research

Poetry

Op-Ed

Translations

Arabic into Hebrew Hebrew into Arabic English into Arabic

Editing