Sherif Bakr once paid a $100 rights advance to a Nordic literary agency in cash. He handed it over at a book fair because Egyptian bank officials didn’t understand what he was trying to buy. The general manager of Cairo’s Al Arabi Publishing and Distributing recalls the episode as a plain example of the obstacles Arabic literature faces abroad: not censorship or hostility, but logistics, visibility and trust.
Bakr spoke at the Frankfurt International Book Fair, which ends October 11. Arabic publishers there are working to get foreign buyers to consider their titles at all. “They don’t know what to expect. They don’t know what we have. This is why we as an industry needed to extend the variety,” he told The National.
The Visibility Gap
Bakr’s answer is Arab Voices, a website featuring contemporary literature from across the Arab world. The initiative began in 2020, six years ago, as a printed catalogue of 32 Egyptian books. It expanded online in 2026 with EU funding and launched in July. The platform now presents foreign publishers with titles including Palestinian author Bassem Khandaqji’s “A Mask, the Colour of the Sky,” winner of the 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, Egyptian novelist Adel Esmat’s “At the End of Time,” and Nora Nagi’s “The Fuel House.”
The catalogue now reaches well beyond prize-winners. “We now have fantasy, crime, women writing crime novels, women’s literature, chick lit, literary fiction and award-winning books,” Bakr said. It lists 200 titles from 22 countries. “We need to give more exposure to writers from across the region, not just the known ones or the famous ones.”
Arab Voices isn’t alone. It joins Leila, an EU-funded European project launched in 2021, five years ago, to promote contemporary Arabic literature. Based in France, Leila offers a curated catalogue and resources for publishers and translators, focusing on Arabic-to-French translation. The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre marked the first anniversary of its From Kalima to the World initiative at the fair on Thursday, announcing 14 new translation and international co-publishing partnerships.
The Business Reality
Bakr is blunt about what foreign publishers need. “Publishers need a selected, curated list. Something that they know is going to work with them. You can’t just put anything,” he said. Literary prize shortlists offer a starting point, though he also considers books without such recognition. Domestic success is no guarantee abroad. “Maybe it’s very good locally, but it doesn’t travel, or maybe it travels,” he said.
He wants Arab publishers to take a more active role at international fairs, where networking and rights negotiations come before the consumer sales that dominate many regional fairs. He acknowledged the costs but said the investment can pay off. “You have to talk to the publishers and convince them that this book stands up with the others.”
At a separate Frankfurt discussion on industry challenges, Bakr described the experience of being overlooked. “We would feel publishers don’t reply to us, don’t think of us as important,” he said. Foreign publishers and agents, he said, may underestimate the practical burdens regional publishers carry. Contractual requirements to send free copies to authors, agents and rights holders in several countries can push Egyptian publishers’ shipping costs above the cost of producing the books. He recalled attending fairs with suitcases full of copies and asking traveling colleagues to deliver them.
Banking is another drag. Restrictions have eased since the cash-at-the-fair episode, but he said a $100 transfer can still incur about $40 in fees. “We don’t have the same banking system,” he said. “We have to be flexible and understanding.”
What Comes Next
After Frankfurt, Bakr plans more international outreach and wants to turn Arab Voices into a hub for publishing news and links to other initiatives. He won’t judge it solely by deal counts. “It’s not that we have to have a KPI of how many translated books,” he said. “You’re building something. It’s like soft power. It’s about expanding the visibility of what’s out there in Arabic literature. There are so many great stories out there, and we just want to help in that effort.”
Why This Matters: Cultural exchange depends on infrastructure: working banks, affordable shipping, credible curation and trust between buyers and sellers. Arab publishers are building channels through commercial, market-driven effort, with EU and Gulf backing but their own initiative, to give the region’s writers a durable route to readers abroad. Khandaqji’s prize-winning book is among those now on offer to foreign publishers. From a strategic perspective, this kind of institution-building depends on functioning regional economies and open channels rather than political grievance. Whether foreign publishers respond with real contracts, not just polite attention, will show whether the gap Bakr describes comes down to awareness or appetite.