I am Associate Professor in Arabic and Comparative Literature, currently on research leave until July 2021 following 3 years as IAIS Director of Education and Assistant HoD.

I wrote my PhD thesis on experimentation and intertextuality in modern Arabic literature at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, 2002-2006) before taking up a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (also at SOAS, 2007-2010) and joined the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, in September 2010.

My research interests include Arabic and Arab Anglophone writing, comparative literature, translation studies and ecocriticism. My recent book, Religion in the Egyptian Novel: Themes and Approaches was published by Edinburgh University Press in July 2019. I am currently working on a new monograph on Literature and Environment in Israel/Palestine.  

I teach UG and PG modules on literature and film in Israel/Palestine, literary translation, Middle Eastern and postcolonial literature, and advanced Arabic language.

I supervise PhD students working on literature and film in the Middle East, Arab-Anglophone literature, Arabic literary and cultural translation studies, and postcolonial literary studies more generally.