Arab Publishers Group and the Arab Book Industry
The most beautiful initiatives emerge during crises and wars. This is the case with the Arab Publishers Group, which announced the launch of a national initiative to rebuild damaged libraries in Lebanon, titled “The Million Books Campaign.”
It seems that the Arab Publishers Group is moving in a direction contrary to some thinkers and cultural enthusiasts who link the economic situation and its impact on culture, arguing that the economy relies on figures and markets, while culture is governed by ideas and creativity, even though the relationship between the two is more complex and profound. When the economy flourishes, theaters, publishing houses, and art exhibitions thrive; when livelihoods become difficult, culture becomes the first victim of crises.
The Arab Publishers Group has rejuvenated itself and embarked on several paths aimed at stirring stagnant waters in the world of publishing and culture. One of these paths is its website, which is currently rich with topics highlighting the Arab book industry, publishers, and the publishing market. Despite the modest size of Arab production, which accounts for no more than 1.5 percent of global output, reliance on such active and vibrant initiatives remains crucial during disasters, economic downturns, and the expansion of poverty and deprivation.
The Arab publishing market is no longer as it was in the 1960s and 1970s. The map of publishing centers has shifted; while the Lebanese and Egyptian markets once accounted for 60 percent of Arab production, Gulf Arab capitals have now entered this equation strongly, bringing about noticeable changes.
Discussions about the pioneering figures in the Arab publishing world differ significantly from today’s major players, as selection criteria are now governed by different rules and variables. Those whose names appeared on the top ten lists in the 1960s are not comparable to those recognized in the new millennium. Today, a name is associated with the type and volume of production and the institution bearing that name, particularly regarding its influence on the Arab publishing industry, as well as its reputation, credibility, and the distribution of books and quality of authors.
Among the most prominent early Arab publishers who left a clear mark on the map of distribution and expansion are: Ibrahim Sader (Lebanon), Georgi Zaidan (Lebanon-Egypt), Khalil Sarkis (Lebanon), Suhail Idris (Lebanon), Ibrahim Al-Muallim (Egypt), Abdulaziz Al-Mansour (Kuwait), Hamad Al-Jasser (Saudi Arabia), Yahya Al-Khalil (Lebanon), Munir Balyouni (Lebanon), the Catholic Press in Lebanon, and Hajj Madbouli (Egypt).
We pause at two phenomena in the Arab publishing world. The first concerns the man who gave the Arab book a voice in the world: Ibrahim Al-Muallim, who succeeded in making the book an ambassador of Arab culture and securing an active presence for Arab publishers in the most important international institutions concerned with the publishing industry.
The saying applies to him as it does to other contemporaries, such as Riyad Al-Rais and Saud Al-Mansour (Darat Al-Salsalat), and Bashar Shabbaro (Al-Dar Al-Arabiya lil-Ilm). There are men who write books, and there are men who write the history of the book industry.
The second phenomenon is one of the founding figures of Dar Al-Adab Al-Lubnani (Lebanese Literature Publishing House), Dr. Suhail Idris, who brought renewed cultural ideas about literature and creativity to the Arab reader from Beirut, opening doors for creators through his magazine “Al-Adab” and the publishing house he established. He was a man who transformed the face of Arab literature and made Beirut a platform for freedom and renewal.
