American University in Cairo Press to launch new imprint

The American University in Cairo Press is to launch a new fiction imprint called Hoopoe in the UK this spring.

The Press has previously published "acclaimed" Arabic writers including the Nobel Prize-winning Naguib Mahfouz and Alaa al-Aswany.

"Hoopoe is the press’s response to the surge in interest in new fiction writing from the Middle East", the publisher said. "The new imprint will showcase groundbreaking literature from celebrated Arabic writers packaged and priced in a way that will better access that large new market of general readers."

In March 2016, the imprint will publish three "critically acclaimed, prize-winning fiction titles" from Egypt, Morocco and Palestine – with a fourth to be published in April.

Nigel Fletcher-Jones, director of AUC Press, said: “While we remain very proud of our role in developing the international career of many Middle Eastern authors through our translations from Arabic, we believe that the new imprint will more closely fit with contemporary reader’s desire to access a more complex mixture of novels which includes titles of wider public appeal alongside literary fiction. We believe that our long and extensive experience in developing the best in Arabic fiction for the global market will continue to be our most important asset.”

A hoppoe is a beautiful, migratory bird found across the Middle East. In the Qu’ran and Torah, the hoopoe is depicted as a trusted messenger, carrying messages across the Holy lands between prophets, kings and queens.

The three titles to be published in March are The Televangelist by Ibrahim Essa translated by Jonathan Wright, Time of White Horses by Ibrahim Nasrallah translated by Nancy Roberts and Whitefly by Abdelilah Hamdouchi translated by Jonathan Smolin. A Rare Blue Bird Flies With Me by Youssel Fadel translated by Jonathan Smolin will be published in April.

The marketing, publicity and distribution of Hoopoe's list will be handled by independent publisher I.B. Tauris.