The Man Booker International has its first Arabic-language winner. Oman’s Jokha Alharthi and Boston-born translator Marilyn Booth split the £50,000 award.
Words Without Borders May: New Omani Writings and Translating ‘Unsettlement’
Guest curators at ‘Words Without Borders’ this month offer ‘unsettlement’ as ways ‘of reconsidering what we think we know, whether about Oman, our own countries, or the uses of literature.’
In Paris, a Meeting of Franco-Arabic Publishers: Challenges and Hopes
Tackling issues from cultural traditions and linguistic complexities to distribution difficulties and piracy, a conference in Paris looks at a major region’s market conditions.
The UAE’s Rewayat Imprint: Translations For, and From, the Arab World’s Adults
The UAE’s Kalimat Group turned heads at Sharjah International Book Fair with its Rewayat imprint’s new translations: Capote, McEwan, Baldwin, Al Bishr.
Translation: Bodour Al Qasimi on ‘New Impetus for Arab Publishing’
‘A culture without translation is a culture without windows,’ the UAE’s Bodour says. ‘This is a direct reflection of the challenges we face.’
Jordan’s Jamalon: The “Arab Amazon” Built on Cash-On-Delivery
Jordanian online bookseller Jamalon solves distribution and delivery in the Arab world by offering cash-on-delivery services.
Why Arabic Literature is Undervalued in Germany
Hartmut Faehndrich, one of the most famous translators of Arabic literature into German explains why Arabic literature is ‘undervalued in the German-speaking world.’
Rafik Schami’s Swallow Editions Aims to Help Arab Authors Take Flight
Syria’s Rafik Shami is one of the world’s leading Arab writers. He’s now launched a new press to bring new Arabic voices to the attention of English-language readers.
DISCUSS: Should Tweeters Be Compensated for Contributions to Books?
By Edward Nawotka Today’s feature looks at some of the copyright and compensation issues surrounding the publication of the book Tweets from Tahrir, a collection of tweets that has been collated, edited and expected to be published shortly by OR Books in the United States. The issue is complicated and has implications for how publishers will treat social media contributions …
Have Western Publishers Been Too Slow to React to Political Change in the Middle East?
In the past publishers cashed in on dramatic events in or originating in the Middle East. So what’s different this time? By Edward Nawotka In today’s lead story about Arabic literature in the West, literary agent Yasmina Jraissati notes that Arabic literature is present on the main territories, but its presence is faint. Given the importance of the Arabic language …