Claudia Ott

Claudia Ott (born 1968) is a German Arabist, translator and musician. She studied Oriental studies in Jerusalem, Tübingen and Berlin, earning a doctorate at Freie Universität Berlin with a dissertation on Arabic epic literature. She subsequently studied Arabic music in Cairo and learned to play the nay, a reed flute. Alongside her academic work, she translated literary works from Arabic. She became particularly known for her new translation of “One Thousand and One Nights,” based on early Arabic manuscripts. Her other publications include “Gold auf Lapislazuli: Die 100 schönsten Liebesgedichte des Orients” and “101 Nacht.” In 2011, she received the Johann Friedrich von Cotta Literature and Translation Prize from the city of Stuttgart.