On September 28, 2004, IslamOnline.net had the opportunity to speak to Mohammed Rashad, the director and owner of the Egyptian-Lebanese Publishing House and the Oriental Papers in Beirut. He is also the deputy-director of the Egyptian Publisher’s Association and the secretary-general of the Arab Publisher’s Association (APA).

Mr. Rashad shared his thoughts with us on the Arab participation in this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair (which will take place from October 6–10, 2004), publishing and reading trends in the Arab World, and the criticism in the media on the Arab League’s organizational skills.

Mr. Rashad: It has been the dream of the Arab world to be the guest of honor at the biggest book fair in the world for years. This dream was further necessitated by the events of 9/11 and the stigmatization of the Arab culture and Muslim civilization as violent and supportive of terrorism. This is a great chance to show the real face of Islam as a religion of tolerance and its scripture, the Qur’an, as a message of freedom. As we all know, Islamic culture has given to and taken from many other cultures, and that its main axis is dialogue.

Ever since the Arab culture was announced as the guest of honor, the APA has been working hard to prepare for the fair. A general plan was drawn up for all publishing houses, whether members of the association or not. All were informed and called upon to make the Arab participation in the book fair a success story, as the fair itself is a great chance to express the true essence of the Arab culture on its own terms. A general plan for the APA was put forth, based on our experience with international events. All participants were asked to collaborate with each other in shouldering this tremendous national responsibility. Even before Frankfurt Book Fair, we’ve been trying to create a collective spirit for all Arab publishing houses, like what we did at the Bologna Book Fair. We’ve worked in collaboration with the organizing committee of the fair, obtaining a total of 1,200 square meters for the Arab hall instead of the 75 square meters given to guests of honor in previous years.

All Arab publishers were asked to present abstracts and comprehensive presentations on all their publications and to introduce the writers and thinkers whose work they publish, as there is an extensive program of talks and lectures by Arab thinkers and literary figures. In that, we tried to represent the Arab culture from within, away from the ideological stances of Orientalist translators or the commercial interests of the publishing houses.

There will be two halls representing all Arab cultures. There will be the official hall which represents all governments and public sectors, in addition to the hall of the Arab publishers. A total of ten thousand publications will be presented by the Arab publishers, in addition to another two thousand works, which will be provided by the fair’s organizing committee, about the Arab World that are written in other languages. There will also be a catalogue for all works published in the Arabic language with an abstract both as a hard copy and as a CD-ROM. In the cultural sphere, there will be a fair for children’s books illustrators, and galleries for Arab visual arts. This will all run parallel to all the Arab folkloric exhibitions and dance.

IOL: How would you describe the readership in the Arab world? What are the main obstacles for Arab publishers?

Mr. Rashad: As a person who spent a lifetime working on a publishing career, I can tell you that the main problem facing publishing as an industry is the lack of rules and regulations. In addition, there is a big problem with readership itself as reading has lost its central position in our culture. In this regard I would like to express my admiration to the “Reading for All” campaign in Egypt which aims at nurturing a new generation attached to knowledge and reading. There is still a lack of public libraries.

As for the rules and regulations guiding the publishing industry, the issue of copyrights seems to be the main issue we need to deal with.

Maybe the Frankfurt Book Fair is a good chance to reorganize ourselves and address our cultural problems with a new spirit, as culture is the last means by which we can cure our ailments.

IOL: What are the books the Arab reader is interested in, informative or literary? Which works translated from Western languages are popular?

Mr. Rashad: As an observer of the Arab market, I can tell you that the interests of the Arab reader have followed several trends in the course of my career. In the beginning of the ‘70s literature and modern poetry were the main interest of the Arab reader. Towards the end of the ‘70s, religious and classical religious writings came to the forefront, such as Qur’anic exegesis and Hadith. By the ‘80s books related to IT [information technology] topped all the lists. In the ‘90s literature had a strong comeback. Nowadays, surprisingly, classical and modern works on Islam and modern Islamic thought are topping the sales lists. We find a lack of religious thought and intellectual production when it comes to this field. Also, no one can ignore the strong interest in modern poetry.

As for translations, classical novels and plays, the works of Shakespeare and Mollière are the biggest attractions. Directly following are science and technology, specifically books related to computer science. After that come self-help works, management, and books on household topics.

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