Edward Said was born in Jerusalem in 1935 and raised in Cairo; and he studied in the United States, at both Princeton and Harvard. He began his teaching career in 1963 at Columbia University in New York, where he went on to hold the preeminent position of University Professor of English and Comparative Literature until his death in 2003.
Edward Said wrote more than 20 books, which have been translated into 30 languages. His ground-breaking work Orientalism opened up new horizons in the study of post-colonialism. He was active in the editorial committees of numerous journals and magazines and lectured at more than 200 universities across North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
A gifted pianist, Said was also the music critic for The Nation for many years. In the political sphere, he was a major voice on the situation in Palestine and an unflinching proponent of justice and self-determination for all. He served as president of the Modern Language Association and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Society of Literature, the American Philosophical Society, and the executive board of PEN International, as well as an Honorary Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge.
Since Edward Said’s death, his widow, Mariam C. Said, has been active in the running of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra as Vice President of the Barenboim-Said Foundation USA.