Gingko is a UK-based charitable

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

created in 2014 to promote dialogue and understanding with the Middle East, West Asia and North Africa through conferences, publications, events and cultural programmes. It should not be confused with Gingko Press, which is a publisher originally based in Germany. Gingko was established in memory of

Werner Mark Linz Werner Mark Linz (6 April 1935 – 9 February 2013) was a German-American publisher who specialised in educational and international publishing in the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. He was born in Cologne, Germany, in 1935. He studied hum ...

, the late publisher of the

American University in Cairo Press The American University in Cairo Press (AUCP, AUC Press) is the leading English-language publisher in the Middle East. The largest translator of Arabic literature in the world, AUC Press has a reputation for carefully selecting and translating t ...

. Dr Barbara Schwepcke, Chief Executive and founder of Gingko, explained that Linz '… always thought big. So it is not surprising that his last plan was a 10-year project of dialogues to preserve and promote the genius of Arab Civilization.'. The inaugural Gingko conference was held at

SOAS SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury are ...

in December 2014. There have since been conferences at the

British Academy The British Academy is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars span ...

in London, in Berlin at the Barenboim–Said Academy, and in 2017 at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

. It also has a long-standing postgraduate fellowship programme with Al-Azhar University in Cairo. Gingko's publications include

Eric Ormsby Eric Linn Ormsby (born 1941 in Atlanta, Georgia) is deputy head of academic research and publications at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He was formerly a professor at McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies, where he also s ...

's parallel text translation of

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

's ''West-Eastern Divan.'' This inspired ''A New Divan,'' a multilingual anthology of 24 original poems and their poetic English interpretations inspired by Goethe's original. In 2019, 200 years after the first publication of the ''West-Eastern'' ''Divan'', Gingko organised a celebration of this inter-cultural project by touring the contributors of ''A New Divan'', taking in the Hay, Bradford and Edinburgh Literary Festival, culminating in the New Divan Festival at the Barenboim-Said Academy. In 2021 its programme of cultural events included ‘Christmas and the Qur’an’, a dialogue co-hosted with The Dean and Chapter of Westminster Cathedral, introduced by Professor Karl-Josef Kuschel, in conversation with Imam Dr Muhammed Gamal Abdelnour. Other significant publications have included ''Art, Trade and Culture'', ''The Culinary Crescent'', ''The Architectural Heritage of Yemen'' and two books with the award-winning Egyptian/Lebanese street artist and graphic designer Bahia Shehab: ''At the Corner of a Dream. A Journey of Resistance and Revolution: The Street Art of Bahia Shehab'' (2020) and ''You Can Crush the Flowers, A Visual Memoir of the Egyptian Revolution'' (2021).

References

External links

*{{Official, http://www.gingko.org.uk Educational charities based in the United Kingdom