Bloomsbury, the publisher that finally accepted the Harry Potter books which were to become a publishing phenomenon, is coming to Qatar at the invitation of Qatar Foundation.
The publisher will be joining Qatar Foundation to set up a joint venture known as Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing.
One Hundred Books a Year
The new publishing house aims to publish 500 books a years as part of a five year publishing programme.
Books will be published in both Arabic and English and will cover diverse topics ranging from fiction to classic Arab literature.
The books will be published around the world.
Expanding Literacy
It is hoped the project, which will also involve the publishing house reaching out to the public via read/write initiatives will expand literacy.
This has been one of the aims of the Qatar government for a number of years.
Literacy in Qatar used to be low - perhaps not surprising given that within living memory of the older citizens of Qatar a portion of the population lived as unschooled Bedouin nomads scraping a living from the desert.
Literacy is now estimated as above 80%.
Fighting for Change
In attempting to increase literacy the government is trying to reverse a trend that has seen the Arab nation fall behind the rest of the world.
While once Arabs lead the world in science, literature and mathematics, according to Kalima translation only one book per million adults per year is published in the Arab world today.
Let's hope that in a year's time Kalima will have to recalculate its statistics to take into account the books being published in Qatar.
Also see:
Qatar Reading
Find Publishing Companies on the Qatar Business Directory
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