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Arcadia and Haus launch Arab imprint

11.04.08 Tom Tivnan

Independent UK publishers Arcadia Books and Haus Publishing have formed a new company which will focus on contemporary fiction in translation from the Arab world. London-based Arabia Books will launch this autumn with ten titles and aims to expand its list year on year. The joint venture will be run by a board including Haus publisher Barbara Schwepcke, Arcadia's publisher and m.d. Gary Pulsifer and Arcadia associate publisher Daniela de Groote.

The books will mainly be acquired from the American University of Cairo Press. Arabia Books will be supported in its title selection by a panel of experts, including Rasheed El-Enany, the University of Exeter's director of Arab and Islamic Studies. Pulsifer said: "It's an exciting venture for two, even three publishers, Arcadia, Haus and AUC Press. It's also an opportune time to be launching a list with an excellent range of Arabic authors."

The initial launch includes books by a number of authors present at next week's London Book Fair. The list kicks off with Egyptian bestselling novelist Alaa Al Aswany's Friendly Fire: Ten Tales of Today's Cairo. Other major titles include Love in Exile by Egyptian novelist Bahaa Taher and Gold Dust by 2008 Zayed Creativity Award winner Ibrahim El Koni.

Schwepcke said she fell in love with writers from the Arab world after Haus published Rafik Schami's Damascus—Taste of a City. She believes Arabia could be like a mosaic "connecting the Arab World and the West."

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