The British Council and London Book Fair has announced the 2008 Arab World Market Focus Program, where more than 40 leading writers, commentators and industry professionals from the Arab world will participate in a three-day cultural program celebrating the strength and diversity of Arabic literature. Leading writers including Bahaa Taher, Alaa El-Aswany, Faisal Darraj, Hisham Matar, Raja Alsanea, Jean Makdisi and Amjad Nasser will participate in a series of discussions and debates aimed at strengthening cultural relations with the Arab world, by developing meaningful dialogue between writers, publishers, translators and readers. The seminars will also provide a platform for new voices from the region to promote their books to a global publishing audience, highlighting current trends in contemporary Arabic literature, with a view to increase the quantity and quality of literary work translated between Arabic and English. At the London Book Fair - which will take place from April 14-16 - the "Arab World refers to the 22 countries that make up the Arab League and have Arabic as their registered official language. "Improving cultural understanding is the driver behind the Arab world seminar program, while the backdrop of the fair provides the crucial business networking opportunities to complement that, British Council Director of Literature, Susanna Nicklin, said. "The ultimate aim is to create relationships between organizations, people and countries. The result could be more Arabic books translated for the UK market and more Western works reaching Arab readers, giving people the opportunity to read what others have written and engendering more acceptance and understanding between our communities. British Council Regional Manager Creativity, Laila Hourani, said, "When the British Council launched its Literature/New Writing program in the Arab world three years ago, very few writers and publishers from the UK and the region had any access to each other. The standard notion on the Arab side was: 'the West is not interested in our writing.' On the UK side, perception was, 'We may be interested, but the Arab world is too complicated and inaccessible.' "Today, over 40 Arab writers and tens of publishers will participate in the London Book Fair Arab Market Focus and Cultural Program. They will make first hand business and creative exchanges with their UK and international counterparts. This is a truly unique opportunity for the publishing and literary scenes on both sides to bridge the artificial gap that has kept them apart for too many years; and have an opportunity to hear the creative voice of the Arab world. Emma House, exhibition manager-international development of the London Book Fair, said, "Every year, visitors to the London Book Fair eagerly anticipate the Market Focus cultural program, and this year the British Council has pulled out all the stops, making the 2008 line up the most impressive yet. It is an honor to be hosting so many distinguished writers, publishers, translators and key industry figures from the region. The British Council is also creating a website, www.britishcouncil.org/newarabicbooks, aimed at UK publishers, which will be a "shop window for new literature in Arabic. The website will include cover images, short descriptions and contact details for the rights owners for each work. There will also be exclusive interviews with and features on the key people in the Arab World literary and publishing scenes. A section on working with the Arab World will include all the information publishers need to build a network of contacts for doing business. The website has just been launched last Tuesday and will be updated regularly during 2008.
