Dr. Rita Nezami is a professor in the Departments of Africana Studies and Writing and Rhetoric. Nezami holds an MA in Russian Language and Literature and a PhD in Postcolonial Francophone Literature and Literary Translation. Her scholarship and teaching focus on cross-cultural studies, postcolonial francophone literature, and literary translation. She has published essays in various journals and has translated Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloun’s works from French for 20 years. The New Yorker published Nezami’s translation of Ben Jelloun’s novella, By Fire (2013). Curbstone Books published By Fire: Writings on the Arab Spring (2016) and The Pleasure Marriage (2021). The NEA, NYSCA, and other organizations have recognized her translations and research. Her current research is on the flat rooftop – a gender-specific feminine space in North Africa and South Asia.