The British Council and London Book Fair announce the 2008 Arab World Market Focus Cultural Programme, which will see over 40 leading writers, commentators and industry professionals from the Arab World take part in a three-day cultural programme celebrating the strength and diversity of Arabic literature.  At London Book Fair (14-16 April), the “Arab World” refers to the twenty countries and the two states that make up the Arab League and have Arabic as their registered official language.

Leading Arab writers will take part in a series of talks, 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 Arab World 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.

Participants from Egypt include:

			Ahmad Alaidy
			Bahaa Taher
			Galal Amin
			Khaled El Khamisy
			Alaa Al Aswany
			Mekkaoui Said
			Radwa Ashour
			Samia Mehrez
			Khaled Abbas

Visit www.britishcouncil.org/newarabicbooks a 'shop window' for new literature in Arabic. Visit the site to find cover images, short descriptions and contact details for the rights owners for each work. There will also be exclusive interviews withand 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 site is currently under construction and it is expected that it will be updated regularly during

Find out more about the market focus seminar programme