Luke Leafgren

After taking BA degrees in English and theology from Columbia University and the University of Oxford, Luke received his PhD in Comparative Literature from Harvard University in 2012. His dissertation examined the way Christian Arabs of the nahda appropriated European models of historical fiction to novelize the Muslim wars of conquest. He has published English translations of nine Arabic novels, twice receiving the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, in addition to being selected as a finalist for the EBRD Literature Prize and named on the longlist for the National Book Award. He teaches courses in translation and Arabic language and has also taught at Middlebury’s Summer Arabic School. Luke will be teaching a section of Arabic A. Beyond his teaching and research, he serves as the Allston Burr Assistant Dean of Harvard College for Mather House.