Prominent translator, art critic and leftist figure Khalil Kalfat passed away on Monday, at the age of 74.
Born in 1941 in the Upper Egyptian region of Nuba, Kalfat was the author of several landmark dictionaries, most notably the Elias-Harrap Business Dictionary.
He started his career as a critic, publishing his articles in Al-Messa newspaper. His fondness of Latin American literature was evident in his translation of works by Brazilian Machado de Assis and Argentinian Jorge Luis Borges.
Kalfat was one of a small group of people that worked to unify secret leftist groups in 1968, leading to the founding of the Communist Egyptian Labor Party. The party would dissolve in 2000.
His landmark literary productions were written under the pen name Saleh Mohamed Saleh, which his fans attributed to his concern with security persecution.
Kalfat’s last article was published in the state-run newspaper Al-Ahram and was an analysis of the Russian Metro Jet crash in Sinai on October 31.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
