Issa J. Boullata’s numerous publications include Modern Arab Poets, 1950-1975; Badr Shakir al-Sayyab: His Life and Poetry; and translations of contemporary Arab authors such as Mohamed Berrada, Emily Nasrallah, and Ghada Samman. His translation of Jabra Ibrahim Jabra’s The First Well: A Bethlehem Boyhood won the inaugural Arabic Translation Award sponsored by the King Fahd Center at the University of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas Press. Boullata received his PhD in Arabic literature from London University, UK. His most recent academic position has been as professor of Arabic literature at the Institute of Islamic Studies of McGill University in Montreal, Canada.