By Chip Rossetti

A new collaborative online platform for the Arabic publishing industry, Mubtada wa Khabar, is expected to launch in advance of this year’s Beirut Book Fair, which runs from November 28 to December 11. The project is being developed by Yasmina Jraissati, founder of the Paris-based RAYA literary agency, and Nadim Tarazi, founder of Lebanon’s La Maison du Livre association; it is being supported by Lebanon’s Ministry of Culture. Mubtada wa Khabar—which loosely translates as “Subject and Predicate,”—will eventually serve as a clearinghouse for Arabic publishing, and will include a directory of profiles of publishers, agents, and booksellers, as well as a database of title information and information on copyright, including downloadable boilerplate documents-the latter aimed at counteracting copyright infringement and pirated editions. “The idea is to make the Arabic book industry more transparent,” Jraissati told Publishing Perspectives.

VISIT: Mubtada wa Khabar