Dr. Hany Mohamed Helmy Hanafy is an academic, literary scholar, and translator based in Egypt. He serves as a faculty member (Lecturer) in the Department of English Language and Literature at the Faculty of Arts, Tanta University.
He obtained his BA from Tanta University before receiving a scholarship to San Francisco State University, USA, where he attended summer school on teaching English as a second language (ESL) He subsequently earned his MA from Ain Shams University and his PhD in the Novel from Tanta University under a joint-supervision program with Columbia University, USA. He also held a postdoctoral fellowship at Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Germany.
Dr. Helmy’s academic interests centre on postcolonial studies. His research explores postcolonial identity and the rewriting of Shakespeare in contemporary literature, as well as colonial modernity and alternative histories in modern Arabic fiction. His publications in the field include “A Rich Cultural Mosaic” (2001), published in the University of Kent’s Postcolonial Forum Online.
In addition to his academic work, Dr Helmy has extensive experience in literary, academic, and media translation. He has worked as a freelance translator and Arabic editor for magazines and publishing houses, translated advertisements for Arabic-language journals, and contributed to the production of commercials for Arabic radio, including supervising their recording. His academic and literary translation work encompasses articles, books, and novels.
His translations include I Emerged from the War Inadvertently, produced in collaboration with Nancy Coffin, and a contribution to the Arabic translation of The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism, Volume 9: The Twentieth Century: Historical, Philosophical and Psychological Approaches, published by the Supreme Council of Culture under the supervision of Radwa Ashour in collaboration with other translators. He has also published various translations online, including on platforms such as FOMLAR and Iḍāʾāt.
Dr Helmy’s teaching experience encompasses Modern Literary Criticism and Theory, Postcolonial Literature, the Modern English Novel, Translation, and English as a Second Language (ESL). He currently serves as the Departmental Quality Coordinator.
Notable Works & Translations
Arabic Translation of James Baldwin's Go Tell It on the Mountain (أعلنوا مولده فوق الجبل) – Published in 2017 by Rawayat (Kalimat Group), Sharjah.
Arabic Translation of Revolution in the Arab World: Tunisia, Egypt, and the Unmaking of an Era (الثورة في العالم العربي: تونس ومصر ونهاية عصر) – Published in 2013 by Dar Roueya, Cairo.
Literary Analysis & Critical Papers:
"Alternative Histories: Renegotiating Colonial Modernity and the Novel Form in Radwa Ashour's A Part of Europe"
"Joseph Conrad: The Imperial Vision"
"'Voices in the Noises of the Isle': Marina Warner's Indigo and Revisioning Shakespeare's The Tempest"
