Karam Youssef
Al Kotob Khan for Publishing & Distribution, Cairo, Egypt
I was 40 when I started my own small independent publishing house and bookshop, Al Kotob Khan (which literally means The Book Shop) in May 2006. Al Kotob Khan functions as a cultural centre committed to exploring culture in our society through a number of regular activities. In our creative writing workshops we look after young authors to-be and get their works published. One of the emerging names is Mohamed Rabie whose first novel 'Kawkab Anber' won the Sawiris First award for the best novel written by young author. His second novel, Year of the Dragon was released in 2012.
We also run book discussions each month, screen themed movies twice a month, and also hold live music concerts. Kotob Khan premises are open to young talented people to share their talents and encourage them to meet their audience. We also organise many activities, lectures, forums and workshops relating to topics on art, culture and current events, in 2011 we dedicated the entire year to celebrating the great author Naguib Mahfouz's 100th birthday. We have also arranged many workshops to enhance knowledge of the civil state, the importance of voting, and the constitution. We worked as venue for some Parliamentary candidates and arranged several meetings with them and voters to speak about their ideas. I strongly believe this is a good contribution to our society and we will continue serving it with commitment for a better future.
We have published about 30 titles since 2007, and now each year we publish 12-15 books. In our publishing, we pay tremendous attention to the content of each book in terms of literary quality and the quality of the final product. We have published many young, talented authors' debut novels, short stories, essays and non-fiction, including: Yasser Abdel Latif, Mohamed Khair, Mohamed Abdel Nabi, Al Taher Sharqawy, Saad Al Qersh, Ahmed Al Khamissy, Mona Moheb, Nariman Al Shamily, Iman Abdel Rehim, Azza Rashad, Ahmed Shafie, and Waiel Ashry. We won the Sawiris Foundation award for best novel written by a young author in 2011; Mohamed Rabie - "Kawkab Anber" (Planet Amber), and best novel in 2013 during the 44th Cairo International Book Fair, novel for "An Al Lazy Youraby Hajaran Fi Bayteh" by author Al Taher Sharqawy.
Also, we have the Arabic copyrights to translate some of the best Fiction and Non-Fiction from English, French and Spanish, for example 'Islam Quintet' by British author Tariq Ali; 'What I Loved' by Siri Hustvedt; 'Citizens in the World' by Spanish Philosopher Adela Cortina; 'Bad Samaritans, The Guilty Secrets of Rich Nations & The Threat to Global Prosperity' by Ha-Joon Chang; 'The Blue Door' by Andre Brink and 'Rapport Sur Moi' by Gregoire Bouillier.
Al Kotob Khan is proudly independent, committed to producing important, beautiful, readable, literary works. Thus, in publishing - we are motivated by three over-arching principles:
To meet the needs of readers and build new audiences
To have the highest design and production standards for our products/books
To support the best new creative writing (whenever found) from talented young writers in Egypt.
Being a small independent that does not put profit first, we can serve our community and enhance knowledge and awareness. Helping young authors to get published and emerge as new voices in the modern literary scene in Egypt is quite a challenge as competition is fierce. Our main aim is to maintain our standard of quality, and make the experience of coming to Al Kotob Khan for a cultural event, to browse books or even to enjoy a cup of coffee, one of the best anyone will experience. We want to make reading a lifestyle, lift up culture and contribute to a better society and country.
Al Kotob Khan for Publishing & Distribution
www.kotobkhan.com
Email: karam@kotobkhan.com