In the 1,000 years since the reign of the Caliph Mamoun as many books have translated into Arabic as Spain translates in one year, according to the 2002 Arab Human Development Report.
In recent years there have been several initiatives around the region to address this issue. Beirut, which was named World Book Capital by UNESCO last year, launched Beirut39; an initiative to select 39 writers of Arab heritage under the age of 39. An anthology of their work was published this month as part of World Book Day celebrations.
The Qatar Foundation joined forces with UK publisher Bloomsbury to create Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing, with the mission of publishing “quality books – for children, fiction and non-fiction for adults, information titles, as well as academic monographs.”
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction was launched in Abu Dhabi in 2007 with the support of the Booker Prize Foundation in London, and in 2008, Abu Dhabi had launched the KALIMA project, with the initial plan of translating 100 books into Arabic.
What do you think of all these initiatives? What’s your say on the state of publishing and reading in Jordan and the region? Do you read Arabic-language books or books by Arab authors? Who are your favorites? What do you think can be done to create a new culture of reading in Jordan?
Have your say here.
well its so sad but it is true … am ashamed to say this but the last arabic book i read was 3 years ago ! while i do find most of the arabic books and writers un-eloquent and very artificial and pretentious ! nobody try to write simple books they all want the whole ” a7lam sarmadieh tal3ab fee neeeraaan tofolaaah mansaieh …etc ” which is a bunch of Bulll S …
i would rather read a simple book and start from there !
thanks for addressing the subject !
Sad but true!
Reading is boring.
Who wants to read when you can play video games on your cell phone.
Plus there is nothing in the books that you can't learn by watching TVs.
القراءة مملة؟؟ !!
بحترم رأيك بس ما بنقدر ننكر أهمية الكتب !! و قد ما نتعلم من التلفزيون مستحيل يغنينا عن الكتاب… خير جليس بالزمان كتاب!
Try other writers for example from the oldies Ghassan Kanafani is really nice and straight to the point ,Ibrahim nassrallah is also straight to the point with a bit symbolism . Abd al rahman munif is hard and complicated but in ideas and events he doesn't really stray he might be a hard read but he is really worth it …you can also read for fatima al marnissy if you care about woman issues or youssef gheishan for a sarcastic point of view …there are alot around right now …I remember a light read was called “Nara ” I don't remember the writers name but she is a jordanian woman .trust me this a7lam sarmadieh …is long gone with those contemprary writers
I prefer reading English Novels and for Old Authors Like Dickens who is my Favourite, the only Arabic books that i might read Are the Quran or books related to Hadith or Islam History, the reason why i don't read for Arabic Novels because as far as i know or read in news papers many of them use the sex ,love,homosexuality stories in their novel to get attention and sadly they do. As for the one saying Reading is Boring, have you tried Reading before, i know Video Games are great but so is Reading
it was a mistake I don't like it …please try some other readers read for Abd Al Rahman Munif , read for others alot are interesting and fun don't judge try …
well… unfortunately this is very true (you already said this i know)
The problem is culture: you may read a book and enjoy it but if there is no reading culture around you that promotes reading then you're different.
I wish to hear some guys discussing their favourite books or writers the way they discuss how Barcelona performed last night!!!
Anyways, if Arabs are going to initiate reading projects they have to start by translating books, and making sure that the translation is a good one because if it's bad nobody will read again for the same author. But even though there must be a market for the books to keep the publishers alive and frankly i don't see this market growing in the arab world…
I don't blame people who think reading is boring because
i dont think they tried out Mahmoud Darwish
nor have they read anything by Gabo ( Gabriel Garcia Marquez )
I dont blame them for thinking that T.Vs are more informing than books.
Because, they have been brainwashed. No my friends, reading tells you so much much much more.
I think those initiatives are meant to fail evantually, , , they don't want us to read or know! If we read and know more about what the world is really like, that would mean the opening of our eyes to the ugly truth they put us in > I dont necessarily mean governments, just those in control of the dollar > just those, that aim towards the enslavement of human kind. > and, us opening our eyes could mean nothing but us standing to the fight.
Ha Ha, reading is such a dangerous thing. Way stronger than any messile or gun. So, yea, I'm sorry, but I dont think those initiatives are meant to succeed!
I think that publishing in the Arab world has a long way to go before it can be improved. I'm not very familiar with Arab authors, nor do I read much in Arabic. Why? Because they do not attract me whatsoever. Admittedly, I'm fluent in both english and arabic. When i'm in a bookstore that sells books of both languages, I immediately go to the english language books.
My main concern is….. just look at the quality of the books. The actual material used (the paper) looks far worse than that you see in English hardbacks or paperbacks, as if it could fall apart or tear easily. Besides that, the cover art/ illustrations are usually awful.
The first thing that attracts you to a book is its cover – the look and feel of it. If its beautifully designed, you are more likely to pick it up and see what it's about. Secondly, the type and font used in Arabic books sometimes are either too small, or too spaced out. Reading should be a pleasure – a feast for your eyes as well as your mind.
Not too long ago, I bought a few volumes of Nizar Qabbani's poetry in Arabic. As much as I love his poetry, I was so disappointed the way in which his beautiful writing was actually published. The books were small and thin, they looked almost like a directions manual that comes with a new camera or computer or piece of equipment. the cover illustrations were amateurish and childish and did not convey the depth and meaning of his work whatsoever. The type font was very standard and clinical – the way the content was displayed was boring. Nothing about the actual publication has any redeemable qualities. How is that in any way going to encourage someone to pick up a book of a well-known and celebrated poet? So what about lesser known, new and upcoming authors?
In today's world – any piece of information you think of can be found on the internet within a matter of minutes. Books just don't really serve that purpose anymore. People don't buy books anymore just to educate themselves – in addition to poetry and fiction, well-designed books (especially those large coffee table books about cooking or design) are considered art, to put on display, or to give as gifts. Are there any similar examples in Arabic books? I sadly cannot think of any.
[…] recent post from 7iber.com (ink.com) rattled off a few of the recent literary initiatives in the Arabic-writing and -reading world: […]
Interesting article, i'm overjoyed to see someone with the same concerns as i. We tend to see many of the Arab youth with the same mentality as “12-35 age group” who commented about video games being more fun and interesting which is absolutely appalling. The first word to come down in the Quran is the word “اقرأ” or “read” not “االعب” or “play”.
We have gone from being the cultural center of the world, to being a people in confusion about their own identity. It sickens me to see many of the youth in Amman acting like the idiots you see in shows like “Gossip Girl” and “One Tree Hill” etc. I personally believe it comes from a distinct lack of reading (or knowledge) especially with topics concerning Arab history and culture. You find those who have a thorough understanding of these topics (i don't mean to generalise) to have more cultural identity and seek to gain more knowledge because that is what we were taught from the days of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) with his following hadith: “طلب العلم فريضة على كل مسلم و مسلمة ” roughly translated (to any no-Arab speaker) as “the pursuit of knowledge is a duty upon every Muslim”. For our Christian brothers and sisters i believe the Bible also states, “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge”.
My socio-political rant aside; what i'm trying to conclude is that knowledge is acquired through reading firstly and foremostly. I have the same dilemma walking into a bookshop and that is a struggle to find an Arabic book that really stands out. What we need is the encouragement of a reading culture as “nibalalrabadi” stated and Arabic books should be more openly advertised and promoted just like books in the West are. When Dan Brown's new book “The Lost Symbol” was published; you would have had to be living in a cave for quite sometime if you didn't see,hear or read about it in America. Not to mention attractive covers and actual blurbs; something Arabic books distinctly seem to lack. It's refreshing to see a few countries in the region take the initiative by the horns and hopefully Jordan can follow suit.
To finish off, i'd like to add a fun-fact in relation to “mayahuneidi”'s reference of Caliph Mamun and Spain in her wonderful article. It is the following:
By the 10th century, Cordoba had 700 mosques, 60,000 palaces, and 70 libraries (this is Cordoba alone; not to mention Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, Tripoli etc.), the largest of which had 600,000 books. In the whole of al-Andalus, 60,000 treatises, poems, polemics and compilations were published each year. The library of Cairo had two million books. While the library at Tripoli is said to have had atleast three million. Take all of these numbers into consideration then delve on the fact there are only just over 5 million surviving books from the Islamic Empire and only 50,000 of those books have been reviewed which is a grand total of about 1%.
[Sources: Dato' Dzulkifli Abd Razak, Quest for knowledge, New Sunday Times, 3 July 2005.
Arwa Aburawa (December 14, 2009). (http://www.muslimheritage.com/feedbackuploads/IslamOnl... “1001 Inventions by Muslims Awarded”). IslamOnline. p. 2. Retrieved 2010-01-30.]
you are right …we need to make books more atractive …but try to put that said and litrary please don't judge a book by its cover . you might be happily surprised 🙂
you are right …we need to make books more atractive …but try to put that said and litrary please don't judge a book by its cover . you might be happily surprised 🙂
[…] Anna, and Maryanne have made me continue to wrestle with this question, which was raised by 7iber.com last week and discussed here. Clearly, as AbdelRahman notes, it won’t be easy. Nevertheless. […]
The last Arabic book I read was a textbook for classical Arabic class in junior high and high school. Apart from that, I’ve read Amin Maalouf’s books – The Crusades Through Arab Eyes and The Gardens of Light.