The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) of the United Arab Emirates — the same organization responsible for the Abu Dhabi Book Fair -- has launched a program to translate hundreds of foreign language works into Arabic. Dubbed “Kalima,” Arabic for “word,” the program will translate 100 works in its first year. The initial list draws from a wide range of history, science and literary fiction and includes such popular works as Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, and Alan Greenspan’s The Age of Turbulence, as well as some rather unusual choices, such as Michael Lewis’s recent book on football, The Blind Side.
Kalima, which also pays for the publication of the books, had already facilitated the translation of six titles, including Stephen Hawking’s A Briefer History of Time, Phil Rosenzweig’s The Halo Effect and Haruki Murakami’s Kafka on the Shore. Of the first list of 100 titles, nearly half are in English, with 26 coming from the U.S.
The motivation for the project is the severe lack of foreign language books translated into Arabic. Karim Nagy, an Egyptian who is directing the Kalima project, said in a prepared statement: "The rest of the world enjoys a wealth of domestic and translated writing, why should the Arab world be any different? Today Kalima is bringing Arabic readers all over the world quality writing in their mother tongue something they have been deprived of for so long. Kalima has taken the first steps on the long path toward rebuilding the Arab library."
Publishing partners for the program include Arab Scientific, Librairie Orientale, Dar al Shorouk, Al-Masriah al Lubnania and Ein. Initially, Kalima will rely on publishers to distribute the books, which will also be available by an online bookstore Kalima is working to develop.
