On his way to Frankfurt, American University in Cairo Press director Mark Linz spoke to Jennifer Evans about Arabic literature in translation Five floors above the beeping horns of Mohamed Mahmoud Street, American University in Cairo (AUC) Press Director Mark Linz's white hair undercuts the boyish enthusiasm with which he leafs through the newest addition to the publishing house's 400 plus titles. "Hot off the presses," he says. "This book will be available for world rights in Frankfurt." He pushes a copy of Marcello Bertinetti's High above Egypt across the desk. Boasting the largest collection of aerial photographs of Egypt ever captured, the book clearly excites him. "This is our newest," he adds, flipping through the irresistibly enticing coffee table volume, which highlights Egypt's "magical panoramas and treasures", showing the country in a way unavailable to most. This is just one of some 200 books that were to be made available at the 2004 Frankfurt Book Fair. Linz was certainly not alone in seeing the Arab world's invitation as guest of honour as a unique opportunity to drum up international attention and generate global exposure for Arab writers whose works often go unnoticed outside their home countries. "I can safely say that nothing like this has happened, nor, in all likelihood, will anything like it ever happen to the Arab world again," he declared, pointing out that, to bridge the enormous gap in cultural understanding between the Arab world and the West, Arabic books must be spread to the widest possible readership throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. "Putting hundreds of intellectuals in touch with their counterparts from many countries will generate so much interest and so many contacts that we're likely to see a major increase of books currently inside the Arab world finding their way outside of it," he elaborated. "It will especially increase support for translations of literature." Such, it would seem, is Linz's principal concern, notwithstanding the emphasis he places on the importance of translating Arabic texts into other (especially Western) languages. For its part the AUC Press has worked for 20 years to effect the conversion of Arabic literature into all languages; the fair, Linz believed, would open doors for these works to reach an ever greater world audience. "This is a rather sensational novel published here two years ago," Linz presented a copy of Alaa El-Aswani's The Yacoubian Building, by way of example. "It will be offered for sale of foreign language rights in Frankfurt. And Frankfurt is a big field," he added. Careful not to choose favourites, however, he offered up samples of the kind of work he believed would be especially well received in Frankfurt. "Because the exhibit is a comprehensive one, we take a complete overview of the kind of literature that comes out of the Middle East," he explained. "But the books on alternative education and civil society are important books, as is the book on the popes of Egypt." In order, he referred to Maha Abdel-Rahman's Civil Society Exposed: The Politics of NGOs in Egypt. The book explores the concept of civil society and its relevance to social and political change. Equally emphasised was Malak Zaalouk's The Pedagogy of Empowerment: Community Schools as a Social Movement in Egypt, which explores the idea of education as the foremost approach to development. Lastly came Stephen J Davis and Gawdat Gabras' three-volume religious studies effort, an enormous tome entitled, The Early Coptic Papacy: The Egyptian Church and Its Leadership in Late Antiquity. "This," Linz exclaimed, "is a major book. A huge book." While the AUC Press was set to present some 200 books ranging in subject matter from ancient Egypt to art and architecture, gender and women's studies to religious studies, political, economic and social work, it was to Arabic literature in translation that Linz paid the most attention, believing it would be the Press's principal focus. In this context he mentioned the teenage novelist Randa Ghazi's sensation Dreaming of Palestine and the 92-year- old Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz's first major book since the 1994 attempt on his life, The Dreams. As the principal foreign- language publisher of Mahfouz, the AUC Press has published or licensed some 400 editions of his work in 33 languages. There are more than 100 editions published in English alone, with sales exceeding one million copies. Along with many of Mahfouz's more famous books, the Press exhibited not only other classics but new and recent Arabic writing as well. "Writers of the Arab world are in the forefront among those who are impatient to tell their story to the world. Often they expect that publishers can produce miracles. They go to Frankfurt and see 200,000 new books published and want to know why their books aren't there, thinking it must be their publisher or it must be that their government isn't promoting them, must be, must be, must be... But it's very difficult. Publishing of translations is hugely difficult." Translations, Linz went on to indicate, represent only 10 percent of the world's 50,000 new titles per year; of that, only one percent comes from the Arab world, which means that only a few dozen important literary works are translated from Arabic each year for the rest of the world to read. "More needs to be said about the importance of translations," he said. "As the interest in books of the Arab world, whether it's literature, current affairs, religion, social issues or economic development, has increased dramatically for all the right and sad reasons," he cautioned, raising an eyebrow. "It's extremely difficult to get these books read without translation. So, even though there are a growing list of educational books for educational markets and general interest books for readers in the West and the rest of the world being published, it's tremendously problematic to select them if they're only published in Arabic." And it is in this sense that the fair could make an impact on publishing, yet even the generation of translation projects comes with its own brand of trouble. "There is an interesting issue with translators," Linz explained. "We need to support our translators and fund their work in order to introduce different cultures through literature to the world abroad. Without translation, these books cannot be read." Linz excused himself as a contract landed on his desk. "Language rights for a Turkish edition," he said, raising his glasses to his face for a closer look. Such seamless integration of an ever accumulating work load has a lot to do with Linz's enthusiasm, which is not, after all, unjustified. In terms of business, 2004 had been a particularly rewarding year. "We're producing 50 books per year. One per week. With bookstores and distributors, we are producing 100,000 books per year in Egypt, the Middle East, Europe and North America. Sales are suprisingly robust, even in this tough economy. Not only do we sell to the wider AUC community, expatriates and English-reading Cairenes, but also we sell a lot of books to visitors and to international book markets abroad. As a university press, our cycle starts in September but I can say we've just completed our most successful year ever in terms of books sold and books of major critical acclaim in the scholarly world and for the media. We are, as we have been for many years now, in a celebratory mood. We're happy that our customers and friends, especially in Cairo, are celebrating with us." Smiling, his glasses back in his hand, Linz coyly admitted that his excitement about attending the Frankfurt Book Fair is twofold. Not only would it be an immense opportunity for Arabic literature to find a niche on the international scene, but also, he added, "As a rather seasoned participant in the Frankfurt Book Fair, my first visit to the fair having been in 1954, this year, I'll be celebrating my 50th year there."
