:Overview
Dar Al Adab (“House of Literature”) for Printing, Publishing and Distribution was founded in Lebanon in the year 1956 by Dr. Souheil Idriss. It is one of the oldest publishing houses in the Middle East. Dr. Idriss was a novelist, cultural activist, an outstanding lexicologist, and author of the famous French-Arabic Dictionary “Al-Manhal”.
The publishing house is a family business, independent of any political party or governmental support. Our mission is to allow Arab authors to express themselves without any censorship, thus defying cultural norms, political systems, injustices of all colors, corruption and fanaticism. We see publishing as an act of resistance, for the sake of a holistic Arab renaissance, while focusing on the importance of cultural exchange. In addition to works originally written in Arabic, we provide the Arab reader with a collection of high-end literature from around the world translated by those with the highest qualifications in the industry.
We also house the prestigious digital literary magazine "Al-Adab". It is a register of different writing forms such as plays, poetry, short stories, literary critiques and articles, in addition to being an envelope to Dar Al Adab, extending and cementing its vision of modern, enlightened and committed Arab world.
Currently, Dar Al Adab is under the management of Rana Idriss, CEO and co-owner of the publishing house.
:Our Authors
For Arab Fiction, the list of authors is endless; it ranges from classical to contemporary novelists from all Arab countries, many of whom have been awarded international and Arab literary prizes.
For Beirut remains, in spite of its wounds, the lung of the Arabs. Many authors who had struggled to be published in their home country chose Dar Al Adab. Among them are Elias Khoury, Ala’a Aswany, Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, Sahar Khalifeh, Hanan El Seikh, Nawal El Saadawi, Hoda Barakat (Arab Booker Prize Winner 2019, Man Booker International Prize Shortlist 2015), Jokha Al Harithi (Man Booker International Prize Winner 2019), Khaled Khalifeh and many others.
Our list of authors whose novels were translated includes Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, James Joyce, Edgar Allan Poe, Nikos Kazantzakis, Yukio Mishima, Yasunari Kawabata, and others. The list also includes contemporary authors such as Elif Şafak, Elena Ferrante, Isabel Allende, Peter Handke, Paul Auster, Ian McEwan, Ismail Kadare, Haruki Murakami, Samanta Schweblin, Yōko Ogawa, Mia Couto, Maryse Condé, Martha Batalha, Anuradha Roy, Madeline Miller, Manuel Vilas, and many others. We have lately acquired the rights for the books of Mieko Kawakami, Sally Rooney, Clarice Lispector, and Hervé Le Tellier.
In addition to Arabic and International novels, we have published multiple studies from various philosophers and academic figures, Arabs and non-Arabs, with all of the works of Edward Said, Régis Debray, Roger Garaudy, Herbert Marcuse, Norman Finkelstein and others.
Franck Mermier, a French specialist in Arab Publishing, wrote in his book The City and the Book: “Often compared to the French Gallimard, Dar Al Adab is probably the only publishing house that can consecrate the name of a new author, at a pan-Arab level”.
Shortlists and Awards:
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