Salma Khadra Jayyusi is arguably the most important disseminator of Palestinian and Arab literature and culture, and one of the most extraordinary researchers in the field. Poet, critic, and literary historian, she is the Founder and Director of PROTA, founded in 1980, for the translation of the best in Arabic literature into English; and East-West Nexus, founded in 1991, for the dissemination of the knowledge of Arabic culture and civilization outside the Arab world.