Syrian translator Saleh Almani, known as the ambassador of Latin languages especially the Spanish, passed away on Tuesday in the Spanish capital, Madrid, at the age of 70.
He spent 50 years working in translations of literary and has contributed greatly to transferring the culture of these languages into Arabic.
The translator was born in Homs, Syria, to a family of Palestinian origin in 1949 and lived there until he traveled to Spain to study medicine, which he did not complete.
Almani’s life was forever altered after late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish who wanted him to translate texts in Spanish to a poetry collection issued after Darwish won a shared award with Spanish poet Rafael Alberti.
These translations were reworded into Arabic by Palestinian poet Ahmed Dahbour and then published in the Karma magazine, which received great success and kicked off Almani’s translation career.
With the boom of Spanish literature in the 1970s, he translated the most famous pieces of those works that still maintained its status in the world of literature to this day, which included Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez’s novels “100 Years of Solitude” and “Love in the Time of Cholera”, and six others.
Almani also translated six novels by novelist Mario Vargas Llosa and five novels by Isabel Allende.
In addition to translating many books, poetry collections, and plays, including "Selected Poems: R Alberti", children's novel "The Yellow Train", and "Football in sun and shadow".
Egyptian translator based in Spain, Talaat Shaheen said in a statement: "He made an effort to familiarize the Latin American literature at a time where the Arab literature was in decline and this was a commendable effort, as well as opened the eyes of Arab writers on that urban legend and tales can be a source of great works."
He received many awards, including the Order of Culture, Medal of Culture and Sciences and Arts, Degree of Excellence from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Gérard de Cremona award, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Award for Translation.
Almani was also a member of the Translation Association of the University of Castilla-La Mancha.
Contributed by Yara Sameh
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