Djûke Poppinga

(Luxemburg, 1956) is involved in the festival since 2007, as a producer and as an advisor for Arabic literature. She completed her Master’s degree in Arabic and Turkish literature at the University of Amsterdam and stayed in the Arab world for several years. In the 80’s she started translating Arabic novels into Dutch. Since then she has translated more than thirty titles among which several novels by the Egtyptian Nobelprize-winner Nagib Mahfuz and the complete works of the Lebanese author Hanan al-Shaykh. In autumn 2010 Gate of the sun by Ilyas Khuri and Wanna be a bride by Ghada Abd El-Aal were published in Dutch translation. In 2005 she received (with Richard van Leeuwen) the ‘Fonds voor de Letteren Vertaalprijs’.