Trevor LeGassick is a noted Western scholar and translator in the field of Arabic literature. He obtained a BA in Arabic from the School of Oriental and African Studies in 1958 and completed a PhD, also from SOAS, in 1960. After stints in Wisconsin and Indiana, he joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1966. He was promoted to full professor in 1979.[1]
LeGassick has published three books and numerous articles on contemporary Arabic culture and literature. He is also noted as a translator of Arabic novels, short stories and plays, covering a wide range of modern writers such as Naguib Mahfouz, Halim Barakat, Yusuf Idris and Emile Habiby. His 1975 translation of Mahfouz's novel Midaq Alley was one of the first works to introduce English speakers to the writings of the eventual Nobel Prize winner.