Arabic translation in progress · Osman Omran
Research question
How can a critical study of Sudanese art address war, displacement and cultural memory through the ethics of witnessing?
Programme record
- Programme topic: Threads of Sand in Arabic
- Research form: Arabic translation
- Responsibility: Osman Omran, translator; Dorian Vale, author
- PIRR programme reference:
moo-program-ccb726880981ccbeb400023c
Available public record: Existing English-language publication.
Dated milestone: Translation authorized on 21 August 2026. Subsequent progress is reported without a date in this programme summary.
Status reviewed: 14 October 2026.
Research material
Current work
Threads of Sand is being translated into Arabic by Osman Omran, a Sudanese graphic and book designer and freelance translator based in Muscat, Oman.
Omran proposed the translation for Sudanese readers and a wider Arabic-language readership. Dorian Vale authorized the work on 21 August 2026 and accepted the proposed translator's preface. Omran subsequently reported that the translation was progressing.
The work extends the book's access across languages while retaining the distinction between the author's argument and the translator's contribution. Translation, design, and an eventual edition are related activities, but progress in one does not establish that the others are complete.
The Arabic translation is authorized and in progress. No completed Arabic edition, delivery date, or publishing agreement is announced here.
Research context
The book addresses Sudanese art; an Arabic translation can make that discussion available to readers whose languages and histories are part of its subject. Omran's experience in translation and book design is relevant to how the book will be read, as well as how its argument carries into Arabic. His contribution is that of translator and practitioner, not a claim of endorsement of every argument in PIC.
Public record
Find the existing English-language publication in the publication register
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