The American University in Cairo Press (AUCP, AUC Press) is the leading English-language
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
in the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
.
The largest translator of Arabic literature in the world, AUC Press has a reputation for carefully selecting and translating the best writing being produced in the language today. They are the publisher of the Nobel prize winning Egyptian novelist,
Naguib Mahfouz
Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha ( arz, نجيب محفوظ عبد العزيز ابراهيم احمد الباشا, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. M ...
.
History
The American University in Cairo Press was founded in 1960. It is an independent publisher with close ties to the
American University in Cairo
The American University in Cairo (AUC; ar, الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة, Al-Jāmi‘a al-’Amrīkiyya bi-l-Qāhira) is a private research university in Cairo, Egypt. The university offers American-style learning progra ...
(AUC). Its offices are in the heart of the Egyptian capital, overlooking the historic downtown landmark,
Tahrir Square
Tahrir Square ( ar, ميدان التحرير ', , English: Liberation Square), also known as "Martyr Square", is a major public town square in downtown Cairo, Egypt. The square has been the location and focus for political demonstrations in Cai ...
.
Its first publications in 1961 were K.A.C. Creswell’s ''A Bibliography of the Architecture, Arts and Crafts of Islam'', (AUC Press, 1961), Otto F.A. Meinardus’s ''Monks and Monasteries of the Egyptian Deserts'' (AUC Press, 1961), Edward B. Savage's ''The Rose and the Vine: A Study of the Evolution of the Tristan and Isolt Tale in Drama'' (AUC Press, 1961), and George Scanlon’s ''A Muslim Manual of War'' (AUC Press, 1961).
Mission
Considered "the leading English-language publishing house in the Middle East", its goals and purposes reflect and support the mission of the AUC in education, research, and cultural exchange, through professional publishing programs and international bookselling services.
Originally an academic publisher, AUC Press now publishes Arabic fiction translated into English. In 2016, AUC Press launched a new fiction imprint called Hoopoe.
Publishing programs
Today the AUC Press publishes books in twelve broad categories:
* Arabic Language Learning
* Archaeology and Ancient Egypt
* Art & Architecture
* Business, Economics, and Environmental Studies
* Coptic and Islamic Studies
* Egypt Guidebooks
* Fiction in Translation
* History
* Literary Criticism
* Middle East Studies
* Middle East Travel
* Naguib Mahfouz
It publishes annually up to 50 wide-ranging academic texts and general interest books for distribution worldwide. It also maintains a backlist of more than 600 high-quality scholarly, literary, and general interest publications. Through its own bookstores and other retailers in Egypt, along with its distributors abroad, namely
Ingram Content Group
Ingram Content Group is an American service provider to the book publishing industry, based in La Vergne, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Ingram Industries.
Shawn Morin is CEO, and John R. Ingram is chairman of Ingram Industries.
History
The ...
and
Bloomsbury Publishing
Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a U ...
, the AUC Press sells its books in every major book market around the world and through major online retailers, including
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...
. The AUC Press also sells e-books and licenses foreign editions of its publications in many languages.
Fiction in Translation
In 1978 the AUC Press translated and published a novel, Naguib Mahfouz's Miramar―his first to be translated into English―thereby launching its new Arabic Fiction in Translation program. Today it is a leader in the translation, distribution, and promotion of the best in modern Arabic fiction, bringing over 145 Arabic fiction titles by more than 65 authors from 12 countries, to English-speaking readers, including works of the late Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz and internationally acclaimed author
Alaa Al Aswany
Alaa Al Aswany ( ar, علاء الأسواني, ; born 26 May 1957) is an Egyptian writer, novelist, and a founding member of the political movement Kefaya.
Early life and career
Al Aswany was born on 26 May 1957 in Cairo. His mother, Zaina ...
.
Naguib Mahfouz
In December 1985, three years before Naguib Mahfouz won the Nobel Prize for Literature, the AUC Press signed a comprehensive publishing agreement with the Egyptian writer, thus becoming his primary English-language publisher as well as his worldwide agent for all translation rights, publishing all of his novels in English and licensing numerous editions in other languages. His most translated novel, Midaq Alley, has appeared in more than 30 foreign editions in 15 languages.
Since it first introduced Mahfouz's novels in English, the AUC Press has published 43 volumes of his writing, including a collection of his ''Life’s Wisdom'', an anthology of his thought and philosophy, Heart of the Night (2011) and Love in the Rain (2011). The AUC Press has also licensed some 600 foreign-language editions of Mahfouz's works in 40 languages.
The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature
As a tribute to the acclaimed Egyptian writer and the rich literary heritage of the region, in 1996 the AUC Press established the
Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature The Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature is a literary award for Arabic literature.Ibrahim Abdel Meguid
Ibrahim Abdel Meguid (born 2 December 1946) is an Egyptian novelist and author. His best-known works form the "Alexandria Trilogy": ''No One Sleeps in Alexandria'', ''Birds of Amber'', and ''Clouds Over Alexandria''. These have been translated into ...
, ''The Other Place''; and
Latifa al-Zayyat
Latifa al-Zayyat ( ar, لطيفة الزيات) (8 August 1923 – 10 September 1996) was an Egyptian activist and writer, most famous for her novel ''The Open Door'', which won the inaugural Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature.
Biography
Al Za ...
, ''The Open Door''
* 1997:
Mourid Barghouti
Mourid Barghouti ( ar, مريد البرغوثي, ; 8 July 1944 – 14 February 2021) was a Palestinian poet and writer.
Biography
Barghouti was born in Deir Ghassana, near Ramallah, on the West Bank, in 8 July 1944. He studied English litera ...
, ''I Saw Ramallah''; and
Yusuf Idris
Yusuf Idris, also Yusif Idris ( ar, يوسف إدريس) (May 19, 1927 – August 1, 1991) was an Egyptian writer of plays, short stories, and novels.
Biography
Idris was born in Faqous. He originally trained to be a doctor, studying at the ...
, ''City of Love and Ashes''
* 1998:
Ahlam Mosteghanemi
Ahlem Mosteghanemi ( ar, أحلام مستغانمي), alternatively written Ahlam Mosteghanemi (born 1953) is an Algerian writer who has been called "''probably the world's best-known Arabophone woman novelist''". She was the first Algerian wo ...
, ''Memory in the Flesh''
* 1999:
Edwar al-Kharrat
Edwar al-Kharrat ( ar, إدوار الخراط; 16 March 1926 – 1 December 2015) was an Egyptian novelist, writer and critic.
Early life
He was born in Alexandria to a Coptic Christian family. He studied law at Alexandria University and w ...
, ''Rama and the Dragon''
* 2000:
Hoda Barakat
Hoda Barakat ( ar, هدى بركات) (born 1952) is an award-winning Lebanese novelist. She lived most of her early life in Beirut before moving to Paris, where she now resides. She has published six novels, two plays, a book of short stories, a ...
, ''The Tiller of Waters''
* 2001:
Somaya Ramadan
Somaya Yehia Ramadan is an Egyptian academic, translator and writer. She was born in Cairo in 1951 and studied English at Cairo University. Subsequently, she obtained a PhD in English from Trinity College, Dublin in 1983. She is a convert from I ...
, ''Leaves of Narcissus''
* 2002:
Bensalem Himmich
Bensalem Himmich () (born in 1948 in Meknes) is a Moroccan novelist, poet and philosopher with a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Paris, who teaches at the Mohammed V University, Rabat. He served as Minister of Culture from 29 July 2009 ...
, ''The Polymath''
* 2003:
Khairy Shalaby
Khairy Shalaby (خيري شلبي) (January 31, 1938 – 9 September 2011)Alia Mamdouh
Alia Mamdouh (also spelled Aliyah Mamduh) (born 1944) is an Iraqi novelist, author, and journalist living in exile in Paris, France.
She won the 2004 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature for her novel ''The Loved Ones''. She is most known for h ...
, ''The Loved Ones''
* 2005:
Yusuf Abu Rayya
Yusuf Abu Rayya (1955 – 12 January 2009) was an Egyptian author.
Early life
He was born in 1955 in Hihya in the Sharqiya Governorate, and studied journalism at Cairo University. His first published book was a collection of short stories in 1985 ...
, ''Wedding Night''
* 2006:
Sahar Khalifeh
Sahar Khalifeh ( ar, سحر خليفة) (born 1941) is a Palestinian writer. She has written eleven novels, which have been translated into English, French, Hebrew, German, Spanish, and many other languages. One of her best-known works is the nov ...
, ''The Image, the Icon, and the Covenant''
* 2007:
Amina Zaydan
Amina Zaydan (born 1966) is an Egyptian novelist and short story writer. She was born in 1966 in Suez and now lives in Cairo where she works as a civil servant.
Zaydan is known for her strong stand on gender inequality in her writings. In 1994, h ...
, ''Red Wine''
* 2008:
Hamdi Abu Golayyel
Hamdi Abu Golayyel (Arabic: حمدي أبوجليل) is an Egyptian writer. Early life
He was born in 1967/68 in a Bedouin village in the Fayoum region. His ancestors arrived from Libya in the early 19th century to settle in Fayoum. Abu Golayyel ...
, ''A Dog with No Tail''
* 2009:
Khalil Sweileh
Khalil Sweileh ( ar, خليل صويلح; born 1959) is a Syrian journalist and novelist. He was born in Al-Hasakah and studied literature at Damascus University. He has since worked for a number of cultural publications in various capacities.
Swe ...
, ''The Scribe of Love''
* 2010:
Miral al-Tahawy Miral al-Tahawy (Arabic: ميرال الطحاوي), also known as Miral Mahgoub, is an Egyptian novelist and short story writer. She comes from a conservative Bedouin background and is regarded as a pioneering literary figure. The '' Washington Pos ...
, ''Brooklyn Heights''
* 2011: Awarded to "the revolutionary creativity of the Egyptian people"
* 2012:
Ezzat el Kamhawi
Ezzat El Kamhawi ( ar, عزت القمحاوي) is an Egyptian novelist and journalist. In December 2012, El Kamhawi was awarded the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature for his novel ''House of the Wolf (Novel), House of the Wolf''. In June 2022 ...
Khaled Khalifa
Khaled Khalifa (born 1964) ( ar, خالد خليفة, sometimes in English written as Khalid Khalifa) is a Syrian novelist, screenwriter, and poet. He has been nominated three times for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, including being s ...
, ''No Knives in this City's Kitchens''
* 2014:
Hammour Ziada
Hammour Ziada ( ar, حمور زيادة, born 1979) is a Sudanese writer and journalist, born in Omdurman. He has worked as a civil society and human rights researcher, and currently works as journalist in Cairo. Before, he had been writing for a ...
, ''Shawq al-darwish'' (The Longing of the Dervish)
* 2015: Hassan Daoud, ''La Tareeq Ila Al-Jannah'' ('No Road to Paradise')
* 2016: Adel Esmat, ''Hikayat Yusuf Tadrus'' ('The Tales of Yusuf Tadrus', 'حكايات يوسف تادرس')
* 2017:
Huzama Habayeb
Huzama Habayeb ( ar, ْحُزَامَة حَبَايِب ) is a Palestinian novelist, storyteller, columnist, translator, and poet who has won multiple awards such as Mahmoud Seif Eddin ِAl-Erani Award for Short Stories, Jerusalem Festival of ...
, ''Velvet'' 'مُخْمَل'
* 2018: Omaima Al-Khamis, ''Voyage of the Cranes in the Cities of Agate''
Arabic Language Learning
With an expanding collection of more than 30 textbooks for class and self-learning, such as the frequently-used ''Media Arabic'' and the ''Kallimni ‘Arabi'' series, the AUC Press also has one of the largest selection of Arabic-language textbooks for students of
Modern Standard Arabic
Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Modern Written Arabic (MWA), terms used mostly by linguists, is the variety of standardized, literary Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; occasionally, it also re ...
and
Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-Asiatic language family, and ...
.
Book Awards
The following AUC Press publications won awards:
''Moon over Samarqand'', a novel by
Mohamed Mansi Qandil
Mohamed Mansi Qandil ( ar, محمد المنسي قنديل, born in 1946 in al-Mahalla al-Kubra) is an Egyptian novelist and author.
Early life
His father was a simple labourer. Qandil went to medical school and worked as a country doctor befor ...
, translated by Jennifer Peterson (2009), the original Arabic edition won the 2006
Sawiris Foundation Award
The Sawiris Cultural Award is an Egyptian literary prize, awarded annually by the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development. It was inaugurated in 2005 with prizes in two categories: novels and short stories. Since then, additional categories in s ...
for Literature
''The Lodging House'', a novel by
Khairy Shalaby
Khairy Shalaby (خيري شلبي) (January 31, 1938 – 9 September 2011)Farouk Mustafa (pen-name Farouk Abdel Wahab), winner of the 2007 Saif Ghobash‒Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation Prize
''Desert Songs: A Woman Explorer in Egypt and Sudan'' by Arita Baaijens (2008), nominated best photo travel book of 2008 by Dutch travel bookshops
''The Collar and the Bracelet'', a novel by Yahya Taher Abdullah (AUC Press, 2008), translated by
Samah Selim
Samah Selim is an Egyptian scholar and translator of Arabic literature. She studied English literature at Barnard College, and obtained her PhD from Columbia University in 1997. At present she is an associate professor at the Department of Africa ...
, winner of the 2009 Saif Ghobash–Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation
''Cities without Palms'', a novel by
Tarek Eltayeb
Tarek Eltayeb (born 2 January 1959) is an Egyptians, Egyptian-Demographics of Sudan, Sudanese writer. He was born to Sudanese parents in Cairo, and has been a resident of the Austrian capital Vienna since 1984. He studied Social and Economic Scien ...
(AUC Press, 2009), translated by
Kareem James Abu-Zeid
Kareem James Abu-Zeid (born 1981) is an Egyptian-American translator, editor, and writer. He was born in Kuwait and grew up in the Middle East. He studied French and German language and literature at Princeton University, taking translation work ...
, runner-up of the 2010 Saif Ghobash–Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation
''Specters'', a novel by
Radwa Ashour
Radwa Ashour ( ar, رضوى عاشور) (26 May 1946 – 30 November 2014) was an Egyptian novelist.
Life
Ashour was born in El-Manial to Mustafa Ashour, a lawyer and literature enthusiast, and Mai Azzam, a poet and an artist. She gradua ...
(AUC Press, 2010), translated by
Barbara Romaine Barbara Romaine (born 1959) is an academic and translator of Arabic literature. From 2008 to 2021 she taught in the Department of Global Interdisciplinary Studies at Villanova University, where she also edited a periodical, ''Writing in Tongues: A G ...
, runner-up of the 2011 Saif Ghobash‒Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation
''Ancient Nubia: African Kingdoms on the Nile'' (2012), “Best Archaeology & Anthropology Book,” PROSE Award by the
Association of American Publishers
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal, and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercia ...
.
E-books
Since 2012, the AUC Press made available five backlist titles in electronic format: ''A Muslim Manual of War'' by George Scanlon, ''Islamic History through Coins: An Analysis and Catalogue of Tenth-Century Ikhshidid Coinage'' by Jere L. Bacharach, ''Al-Fustat: Its Foundation and Early Urban Development'' by Wladyslaw B. Kubiak, ''Ayyubid Cairo: A Topographical Study'' by Neil D. MacKenzie, and ''Writing Egypt: History, Literature, and Culture'', edited by Aleya Serour. Today, it offers a large selection of e-books―new and backlist titles, ranging from Arabic fiction to travel books.AUC Press eBooks
See also
*
List of university presses
This article lists notable university presses, arranged by country. Associations of university presses are listed afterwards.
Entries on this list should be publishing houses associated with one or more academic institutions and have their own ...