Vision
OUR MISSION
© Mubtada wa khabar is a collaborative platform for the Arab book industry. Its ultimate goal is to contribute to the development of the book industry in the Arab world. Mubtada wa khabar is developed along three main axis:
- Providing information on the book industry and its actors.
- Promoting high standard literature
- Enabling actors of the book chain to interact with each other.
THE PAUCITY OF INFORMATION ON BOOKS IN THE ARAB WORLD
The Arab book market encompasses 22 countries :Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen. This market is characterized today by the absence of systematic and reliable distribution and diffusion networks.
This results in an opacity which has all sorts of consequences ranging from small sales numbers, to unequal quality in book production and a fragmented, often inefficient, book chain.
Mubtada wa khabar comes as a response to the lack of neutral and quality information on the Arab book production, in the hope that this contribution to the transparency of the book market will lead to its development and professionalization.
A BOOK DEDICATED MEDIA
There are book reviews in the Arab press, and most newspapers have their cultural supplements. What we’re aiming for with Mubtada wa khabar is creating a space for professional publications where:
- More critiques can be published by people from across the Arab countries and be archived, hence accessible in time.
- Actors of the book chain can be presented and interviewed
- Problems common to all publishers, all booksellers, or other actors of the book chain can be expressed and addressed.
COMMUNITY
We believe that the empowerment of all the book chain actors comes hand in hand with a reinforced book chain and network of actors across the Arab countries.
This ameliorated communication between actors of the book chain will in turn lead to more business opportunities for them, and contribute to the dynamism of the industry in the long run.
How it works
SCOPE
Mubtada wa khabar is an information and collaboration tool dedicated to the Arab book industry. It is exhaustive and makes room to all books that are published in the Arab world, whatever the language they are published in. It includes general literature and youth literature.
FUNCTIONS
Mubtada wa khabar is designed with 5 different functions, the aim of which is to create a virtual space where readers and professionals alike can learn and communicate about Arab books.
CATALOGUE
An exhaustive catalog listing all books produced in the Arab world
COMMUNITY
All stakeholders of the industry, from author to reader can make themselves known and interact.
MAGAZINE
A professional publication dedicated to books.
DOCUMENTS
A repository of useful documents for the stakeholders of the industry, and of online formation tools.
NEWS BOX
A window on the activities of the Arab book industry where news and events are posted.
FEATURES
Mubtada wa khabar is a web-based tool that can be used for free. The platform is available in Arabic, English, and French, so as to give visibility to the Arab production on the international scene.
Users are enabled to generate the platform’s content. More specifically, publishers are expected to make use of this tool to communicate on their latest productions.
If you are a publisher and would like to know more about this tool, please visit the ‘Note to publishers’ page.
Also, authors, translators, critics, can create a profile on the platform and generate an updated and interactive directory. To read more about the platform’s collaborative dimension, please visit the ‘Note to the book community’ page.
Who we are
ADMINISTRATION
Mubtada wa khabar is a project operated by the Lebanese association ‘La Maison du Livre’ (POBox 166865, Beirut, Lebanon).
It has been financially supported by several institutions, and has concluded numerous partnerships. To know more about our sponsors and partners, please visit the ‘Special thanks’ page.
Its inception and development is owed to:
Yasmina Jraissati and Nadim Tarazi.
Its coordinator and webmaster is :
Yasmina Jraissati.
EDITORIAL TEAM
Mubtada wa khabar hosts independent reviews and magazines.
The youth literature magazine rests on the joint editorial efforts of:
- Qira’at saghira, a Lebanese publication available online through Mubtada wa khabar.
- The international section of the Centre national de la littérature pour la jeunesse – La Joie par les livres, a service of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, a partner in this project.
Note to publishers based in the Arab world
THE BASIC IDEA
The basic idea of Mubtada wa khabar is to empower you to make your productions known.
All you need to do is:
1| Create a Publisher’s profile for your company on the Community function
2| We will be notified of your request, and will check with you before creating your account.
3| Once your account is created you can:
* Update your profile and communicate on your book related activities.
* List your books on the platform.
* Interact with other registered members by sending them, and receiving from them, messages that are kept private.
* Take part to the discussions on the forum
* Post announcements or requests on the bulletin board shared by the community.
* Suggest book related events or news you feel are important to the community (book fairs, book signings, readings, prizes, tours, conferences, etc.), which will be moderated by administrators and published in our Newsbox.
* Write comments on books or articles.
Note the book community
If you’re an actor of the book chain+, or a member of an institution++related to this field, based in the Arab world, you can register as such in this platform.
If you are an international book professional, you are welcome to register as a reader, where you are given the opportunity to say more about your book related activities.
HOW IT WORKS
1| Create a profile in the Community section
2| We will be notified of your request, and will check with you before creating your account.
3| Once your account is created you can update your profile and communicate on your book related activities, you can:
* Interact with other registered members by sending them, and receiving from them messages that are kept private.
* Take part to the discussions on the forum
* Post announcements or requests on the bulletin board shared by the community.
* Suggest book related events or news you feel are important to the community (book fairs, book signings, readings, prizes, tours, conferences, etc.), which will be published in our Newsbox.
* Write comments on books or articles.
+Actors of the book chain include: academics, agents, authors, booksellers, critics, editors, journalists, librarians, media, PR, readers, sales representatives, scouts, translators.
++Institutions related to this field include: bookshops, book diffusion companies, communication agencies, cultural organizations, distributors, schools, libraries, literary agencies, media, publishing companies, scouting agencies, universities, wholesalers.
Special thanks
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Beirut World Book Capital 2009
The Lebanese ministry of culture and the French Embassy in Lebanon
The COBIAC (International cooperation for public reading and libraries)
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Centre national de la littérature pour la jeunesse – La Joie par les livres
Mubtada wa khabar in the press
Jraissati (along with Nadim Tarazi, founder of Lebanon’s La Maison du Livre association) is developing a collaborative online platform for the Arabic publishing industry, with the support of Lebanon’s Ministry of Culture, called “Mubtada wa Khabar”—loosely translated as “Subject and Predicate.”
