Penguin Classics Venturing To Arabic-Speaking Countries

A new partnership between Penguin Group and Dar El Shorouk, an Egyptian publisher, will bring Penguin's series of classic titles to Arabic-speakng countries. Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote are among the books that will be entering Arabic shops starting in 2011. In all, twelve international classics and eight local Arabic classics will be published each year as part of the new venture. The Wall Street Journal reports that this is part of the publisher's broader strategy to bring translated versions of classic titles to nations that don't predominantly speak English, including Brazil, South Korea, and China. In this new arm of the strategy, Penguin and Dar El Shorouk will split the sales revenue. From the WSJ article:

Ibrahim El Moallem, chairman of Dar El Shorouk, says the deal will make many of the classic Western titles, such as Jonathan Swift's "Gulliver's Travels," easily obtainable in up-to-date Arabic translations for the first time.

"In Egypt, readership is rising, especially among the younger generation," says Mr. El Moallem, whose publishing house distributes books to all the countries of the Arab world, including those that are known to censor literary materials. Mr. El Moallem said that presenting the Penguin library as a series of the world's greatest books may help trump the censorship issue.

In addition, while the books will be launched as printed physical copies, planned digital editions will prove difficult to repress.

"If you have the digital edition, I think it will go all over the place," he says.

The Penguin Classics series was born in 1946, popularizing some of the most significant books ever written. A translation of Homer’s Odyssey by E. V. Rieu was the very first title in the ongoing series. Today it includes more than 1,200 titles. Meanwhile, Dar El Shorouk is one of the leading publishers in the Arabic world. In operation in Cairo since 1968, it has published more than 5000 books.