CAIRO: Earlier this week, at a wine and shrimp-fuelled soiree packed with British literati, Egyptian novelist Miral El Tahawi was on the prowl.
This was her chance to swap business cards with a group of influential publishers who have the power to put her novels on European bookshelves and nightstands – a feat that’s next to impossible for many Arab writers. “All of us dream about being internationally read, but the chance to [achieve] it is very rare, she tells The Daily Star Egypt.
While some of Tahawi’s works, such as The Tent and The Blue Eggplant, are available in English, her books have yet to find a wide audience of readers in Europe.
“The market is very tough. It’s very challenging, she says.
The event, which was held at The British Council and timed to coincide with the Cairo Book Fair, is an attempt to strengthen literary networks between the Arab world and Europe. It’s also a bid to get past the headlines, says Sarah Evans, the British Council’s regional director.
“A lot of cultural engagement is through the media and politicians and this is really superficial. The power of literature is that it is person to person – it has the power to break stereotypes, she says.
Tahawi agrees, saying that “Arabic literature is very rich and very different and has many different voices. We’re not just folklore or a hot political area. We dream . that other cultures will take us seriously, she says.
Caroline Dawnay, a literary agent from London visiting Cairo, says there’s a “real hunger amongst British bookworms for Arabic novelists; it’s just a matter of finding the writers and taking the right steps.
However, while Dawnay admits she hasn’t read much modern Arabic literature, she notes that her goal is to find “writing I can fall in love with.
One work which has managed to cross the cultural divide is Alaa Al Aswany’s The Yacoubian Building, which will officially reach the commonwealth countries via Britain’s 5th Estate publishing house next month.
Mitzi Angel, the company’s editorial director who is also in town for the Cairo Book Fair, says she jumped at the chance to bring the book to Britain because it was a “phenomenon in the Arab world and was creating an enormous amount of buzz.
The challenge for Angel, who recently signed a war-ravaged memoir by Sierra Leone’s Ishmael Beah, is to try and replicate that success again.
“I’m sure that there’s more, it’s just a matter of crossing some of the hurdles.
One of those hurdles is an intrinsic lack of trust, says Sherif Fekri Muhammad, an executive and project manager with Nahdet Misr Publishing and Printing, a Cairo-based company.
“From what I hear, [the British publishers] are looking for fiction books for adults. This is the main subject, he says, adding that “maybe they don’t trust the Arabic writers who translate facts or history.
While Muhammad is keen to work with foreign publishers and has brought translations of both Disney and National Geographic titles to Egyptian readers, he stresses that true Arab voice will only be heard when English readers dip into religious, historical and non-fiction works.
“This is a good way to tell everyone who we are and what we want. If they want to know about Arabs, they have to read Arab [non-fiction] writers, he says.
Whether or not this happens remains to be seen, but increased dialogue is the first step, says Evans, the British Council director.
“I don’t think any British publisher is going to take a week out of their schedule if they were not interested, she says.
“The critical thing is if this [trip] deepens their interest.
Another young Egyptian writer looking for exposure abroad is Ahmed Alaidy, whose recent novel Being Abbas el Abd is creating buzz and was translated into English by Humphrey Davies, who also translated The Yacoubian Building.
When asked if he writes with a western reader in mind, Alaidy says “When I write, I only want to listen to the voices in my head.
“It’s like I’m my character’s secretary – I just bring them coffee.
