Image: Detail of painting by Youssef Abdelke created for the front cover of the first issue of Banipal magazine, February 1998
© 2009 Banipal
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Library
The Banipal Arab British Centre Library of Modern Arab Literature (BALMAL)
BALMAL is a unique literary resource in the heart of London, containing volumes of fiction, poetry, plays and memoirs by Arab authors translated into English or in the English original. This collection began at the 2008 London Book Fair where, for the first time ever, Arab publishers were the market focus. Banipal and the London Book Fair collaborated on a display of literary works donated by publishers. These books formed the foundation of BALMAL, which formally opened in January 2010 with a special reception the evening after the Award ceremony of the 2009 Saif Ghobash-Banipal Prize. The library has been growing ever since and now contains over 400 volumes of literature. It is updated regularly with new novels, collections of poetry and of short stories, autobiographies, memoirs and some volumes of literary criticism.
BALMAL is easy to join – just a one-off fee of £10 and you get your library card and membership with which you can borrow up to three books. If you want to browse and visit, just contact the Arab British Centre on 020 7832 1310 or email info@arabbritishcentre.org.uk to make an appointment. The Library is open 9.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and 9.30am to 4.30pm on Fridays. For more information click here.
We look forward to the library encouraging the reading of contemporary literature in translation from the Arab world. The Banipal Trust is keeping an up-to-date list of translated literary works by Arab authors – which at present includes around 900 titles – with the goal of incorporating as many as possible into the library. The fiction, poetry, plays and memoirs are mostly translated from Arabic, although works in any language produced by authors of Arab heritage are included, so the library also contains literature translated from French, German and Dutch, and some works originally written in English. There are also some volumes of literary criticism.
The library is managed by the Arab British Centre and also includes a major collection of works about the Arab world covering history, politics, travel, art and cookery, with a total of over 2,000 titles. For more information click here.
Banipal Recommends
– great reads in the library, reviewed in Banipal issues.
Click the book titles below to read the library entries.
Click the Review title to read the reviews.
These recommended reads will be regularly updated.
In the Library
translated by Khaled Mattawa
by Stephen Watts in Banipal 41.
The Human is the Poetry of the Universe
In the Library
Yalo by Elias Khoury
translated by Humphrey Davies
Read the Review
reviewed by James Dalglish in Banipal 40.
“Blood was. The hawk was. Pain was.”
In the Library
Selected, translated and introduced by Denys Johnson-Davies
Read the Review
by Alice Johnson in Banipal 42
In the Library
The Baghdad Blues by Sinan Antoon
Read the Review
by Alfred Corn in Banipal 36.
Evoking more than devastation and death
In the Library
Wild Mulberries by Iman Humaydan Younes
Translated by Michelle Hartman
Read the Review
by Aamer Hussein in Banipal 33.
The map and mosaic of Sarah's journey
The Banipal Book Club
Ali Bader's The Tobacco Keeper is selected for discussion!
During the first meeting of the Book Club on 9th January, 2012, Ali Bader’s The Tobacco Keeper was selected for discussion in mid-March. The novel’s depiction of Baghdad over the last eighty years and its intriguing protagonist, a Jewish Iraqi musician, caught our interest. It should be an exciting introduction to the Book Club!
Ali Bader
With the title selected, get reading and come along to the next meeting in the Library of the Arab British Centre.
Date and time have not yet been decided but details will be updated soon. Email charis@banipal.co.uk to be included on the Book Club mailing list.
Supporting the Book Club
