Born In Cairo in 1965, May Telmissany is today one of the figures of
what is called the New Writing generation. Shortly after spending one year in Paris, in 1991, she began publishing her short stories in literary magazines. By 1995, she had
completed an MA in French literature, on Marcel Proust’s first book Pleasures and Days. In the same year, she had
already published an Arabic translation of Les Cinemas Arabes, and of Anne Ubersfeld's Lire le Theatre, a critical book
about the life and works of an Egyptian documentary film director, Fouad AI-Tohamy, and her first short stories collection
Repetitive Sculptures (now out of print). For ten years, (1988-1998) she worked as an assistant professor in many
academic institutions, as a speaker at the French service of Radio Cairo, and also as a film critic.
In 1997, she published her first novel, Doniazad which was largely praised by eminent critics such as Ali El Raei, Sabry
Hafez, Amina Rachid, Salah Fadl, among others. Her second short story Collection, Mental Betrayals (1998) was part of a
wide spread popular edition financed by the Ministry of Culture. She has written two scripts for cinema, several studies on
Egyptian and international filmmaking and collaborated in artistic magazines such as Al Kawakeb (The stars) and Al Fan Al
Sabei (The Seventh Art). She is actually preparing a Ph.D. at the University of Montreal on the
representation of the Hara (popular neighborhood) in Egyptian cinema from the mid thirties to the late nineties. Her second novel Heliopolis, published
in December 2000, is inspired by her native neighborhood.
Academic and Professional Experience
1998-2001 Scholarship from the Canadian Agency for International Development for doctoral research in
Comparative Literature at the University of Montreal, Canada.
1996-1998 Lecturer (part-time) French literature department, Cairo University.
1995 Master degree in French Literature on 'Narrative Poetics in Marcel Proust's Pleasures and Days", Cairo university.
1992-1995 Assistant professor at the Languages and Translation Center, Academy of Arts. French teacher at the
High Institute of Cinema, Academy of Arts.
1988- 1992 Assistant professor in the Faculty of Arts, Menoufia University.
1987 Diploma in French Literature, Ain Shams University.
1988-1998 Speaker and journalist at the French Service of Radio Cairo.
She prepared and presented several cultural programs about Egyptian writers, Egyptian classical composers, orchestral
music for children, the history of Egyptian cinema, etc.
Conferences
1996 - 2001: Participation as a writer and film critic at national and international conferences in Egypt, Morocco
(Casablanca), France (Aix-en-Provence), Denmark (Copenhagen), Spain (Grenada and Toledo), The Netherlands (The
Hague), Germany (Frankfurt) and Canada (Montreal and Quebec city).
Her
Publications & Literary Works include:
2000 HeliopoIis Charquiate, Cairo (Novel)
Les Grandes Ecoles
Esthetiques, High Council of Culture, Cairo(Translation)
1998 Mental Betrayals, Organism of Culture Palaces (OCP), Cairo (Stories)
Pourquoi Lire les Classiques, OCP, Cairo (Translation)
1997 Doniazade, Charquiate, Cairo (Novel)
(1999 - 2001: translated into English, French German, Dutch, Catalan and Spanish)
1996 Pratique du Montage, Academy of Arts, Cairo (Translation)
1995 Repetitive Sculptures, Charquiate, Cairo (Stories)
Lire le Theatre, Academy of Arts, Cairo (Translation)
Trois pieces de F. Arabal, Academy of Arts, Cairo (co-translation)
The Flower of the Impossible, Ministry of Culture, Cairo (Film essay)
1994 Les Cinemas Arabes, GEBO, Cairo (Translation)
1991 - 1998 Short Stories, A Knight from Scotland (Quentin Durward), The Blue Lagoon, Mogol, and Desiree (five simplified novels, translated from English, in "Master pieces of Literature" collection, GEBO, Cairo (Translation)
Screen Plays
1998 Permis d'Absence, Fiction film adapted from the novel by Montasser El Kaffach (to be produced during the year 2001)
1993 Alexandria Day and Night, documentary video film, directed by Abdel Kader Telmissany, 35 minutes (released at the opening ceremony of the "Alexandria Cities of the World" festival,Alexandria).
Translated short stories and novels
2001 "Fawziyya" in Roses from Cairo, Edizioni e/o, Roma (translated into Italian by Laura Chirielenson.
2000 Doniazade, Sindbad/Actes Sud, Paris (translated into French by Mona Latif Ghattas)
Dunyazaad, Saqi Books, London (translated into English by Roger Allen)
Afscheid van Doenyazaad, Uitgeverij Elmar, Amsterdam (translated into Dutch by Djuke Poppinga)
"Fenetre ouverte seulement sur ce qu'il voit ", in Quantara no 35, Spring 2000, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (translated into French by Walid El Khachab)
1999 Dunjsad, Lenos, Basel (translated into German by Hartmut Fahendrich)
1999 "Trois bonnes et Un domestique " in AI-Ahram Hebdo, 21-27 April 1999, Cairo (translated into French by Mona Latif-Ghattas)
1998 'Le jeu de la mort" in Al-Ahram Hebdo, 18-24 February 1998, Cairo (translated into French by Siham Djafer)
1996 "An old song", in Middle East Times vol. XIV, no 6, 4-10 February 1996, Cairo (translated into English by Hanan Samaha)
1996 "Cinq recits", in Peuples Mediterrarraneens no 76, July-September 1996, Paris (translated into French by Walid El Khachab)