Shawkat is Associate Professor of Arabic Literature at Cornell University. His research interests include literary aspects of the Qur’an, the literature of ninth- and tenth-century Baghdad, modern poetry, and Arabic belles-lettres in South Asia in the 18th century. During his fellowship in 2016-2017, he will be editing and translating the Shifā’ al-‘alīl of Āzad BIlgrāmī (d. 1200/1786).