Teaching

Kareem James Abu-Zeid (PhD) began teaching formally in 2004. He has taught language, literature, writing, and philosophy in four different languages (English, Arabic, German, and French). He has also conducted translation workshops and done readings in the US and abroad, including at Princeton University, Yale University, Kenyon College, UW Madison, Middlebury College, UConn, Washington & Lee University, Indiana University, University of Southern California, Aswan University (Egypt), and many others. Kareem’s teaching style is interactive, fun, and engaging – he loves helping students and budding translators learn new skills and access their greater potential. Since 2019, Kareem has frequently served as a mentor for the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA), and other institutions. Kareem is also frequently a guest teacher for undergraduate courses at institutions across the world (please see his events page for these). 

​Below is a list of courses, seminars, and workshops that Kareem has taught or is preparing to teach. Please note that this is an abbreviated list, see Kareem's events page for a fuller list of his workshops and other events.
2024
  • Faculty Member for the 2024 Middlebury Bread Loaf Translators Conference. Leader of the Poetry Translation workshop. June. 

  • Open-Language Open-Genre Translation Mentor for the American Literary Translators Association. Mentee: Munawwar Abdulla, working on contemporary Uyghur fiction. 

  • Led poetry translation workshops for the American Literary Translators Association (virtual, ALTA) and the Woodland Pattern Book Center (Milwaukee). 
 
2023
  • ​​Mentor for the Yiddish Book Center. Mentee: Daniel Kraft, working with 20th-century Yiddish Poetry.Led 

  • Led poetry and prose workshops for the American Literary Translators Association (online) and for Manchester Metropolitan University (UK, in person). 

2022

  • Faculty Member for the 2022 Middlebury Bread Loaf Translators Workshop Series and Lecture Series. June. 

  • Faculty Member for the International MFA in Creative Writing and Translation at the Vermont College of the Fine Arts (part-time faculty, distance program).  
    
  • Open-Language Open-Genre Translation Mentor for the American Literary Translators Association. Mentee: Priyamvada Ramkumar, working on contemporary Tamil fiction. 
 
  • Mentor for the Ireland-based "Play It Forward" Fellowship Programme, in conjunction with Skein Press. Mentee: Iraqi-born poet Majed Mujed.
 
  • Leader of 2 online translation workshops (1 poetry and 1 prose) for the annual conference of the American Literary Translators Association. March. 
2021
  • Faculty Member for the 2021 Middlebury Bread Loaf Translators Workshop Series and Lecture Series.

  • Faculty Member for the International MFA in Creative Writing and Translation at the Vermont College of the Fine Arts (part-time faculty, distance program).  
 
  • Leader of 3 online translation workshops (poetry and prose) for the annual conference of the American Literary Translators Association.
 
  • Open-Language Open-Genre Translation Mentor for the American Literary Translators Association. Mentee: Alex Braslavsky, working with modern Polish poetry. 
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  • Mentor for the Ireland-based "Play It Forward" Fellowship Programme, in conjunction with Skein Press.
2020
  • Faculty member for the Middlebury Bread Loaf Translators Conference in Vermont (teaching the translation of poetry). June 10-16. With Jennifer Croft, Karen Emmerich, Jody Gladding, David Hinton, and Achy Obejas. (Postponed due to COVID)

  • Open-Genre Arabic Translation Mentor for the American Literary Translators Association. Mentee: Madeline Edwards, working with contemporary Arabic prose.
2019
  • Open-Language Poetry Translation Mentor for the American Literary Translators Association. Mentee: Dr. Jennifer Kellogg, working with Modern Greek. ​
2018
  • Literary Translation for Students of Arabic. 1.5-hour hands-on workshop at Middlebury College.

  • Literary Translation Workshop for Students. 2.5-hour hands-on workshop at the University of Connecticut.

2017

  • Literary Translation Practice. Four-hour interactive workshop at Aswan University, Egypt.  

2016

2014

  • Advanced Arabic. UC Berkeley; designed the course, taught in Arabic.

2013

  • Misplaced Identities. UC Berkeley, Dept. of Comparative Literature; reading and composition course; co-taught and co-designed with Suzanne Scala.

2011

  • Advanced Arabic. UC Berkeley; designed the course, taught in Arabic.

2010

  • Group and individual tutoring sessions in Modern Standard Arabic for the Critical Language Scholarship Cairo summer program (US Dept. of State).

  • Elementary Arabic. UC Berkeley; Graduate Student Instructor.
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  • Advance Arabic (Reader). UC Berkeley; course taught by Dr. Sonia Shiri.

2009

  • Intermediate Arabic (spring semester). UC Berkeley; Graduate Student Instructor.
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  • Intermediate Arabic (Intermediate Arabic (fall semester). UC Berkeley; Graduate Student Instructor.

2008

  • Le roman maghrébin de langue française: colonialisme, post-colonialisme, identité(s) (“The French-Language Maghreb Novel: Colonialism, Post-Colonialism, Identities”). University of Heidelberg Romance Languages Dept.; designed the course, taught in French.
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  • Intermediate Arabic (fall semester). UC Berkeley; Graduate Student Instructor.

2007

  • (Ver-)Zweifeln: Literatur und Skepsis (“Doubt/Despair: Literature and Skepticism”). University of Mannheim German Dept.; designed the course, taught in German.

2005

  • English teaching assistant at the Lycée Bois d’Amour (high school) and the Collège Rabelais (middle school) in Poitiers, France, for the 2004/5 school year. 

2004

  • American Practical English. University of Mannheim English Dept.; designed the course.
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  • Précis Writing and Guided Expression. University of Mannheim English Dept.; designed the course.