About Banipal
Online Catalogue:
Featured Titles
![]() | Shepherd of Solitude – Selected Poems by Amjad Nasser Shepherd of Solitude is Amjad Nasser's first English collection, translated and introduced by the foremost translator of contemporary Arabic po... £7.95 | ![]() | Knife Sharpener – Selected Poems by Sargon Boulus Knife Sharpener – Selected Poems is a posthumous commemoration and celebration of Sargon Boulus, in a collection of poems, written between 1991... £7.95 |
2009 celebrates Banipal's 12th year of publication.
Banipal is an independent literary magazine showcasing contemporary authors and poets from all over the Arab world in English translation. Founded in 1998 by Margaret Obank and Iraqi author Samuel Shimon.
"Banipal is almost my chief source of information about current Arabic writing and cultural events. Without Banipal I would be much less well-read. Its past issues constitute an incomparable archive." - Robert Irwin
A combination of newly awakened curiosity about the Arab world and the tireless efforts of Banipal, an independent magazine committed to making Arab authors available to an English readership, may be about to extend our horizons.” Stephanie Merritt, The Observer
Publisher / Editor Margaret Obank
Deputy Editor Samuel Shimon
Contributing Editors Sinan Antoon, Fadhil al-Azzawi, Issa J Boullata, Peter Clark, Khaled Mattawa, Anton Shammas, Paul Starkey, Saadi Youssef, Mona Zaki
Consulting Editors Etel Adnan, Roger Allen, Mohammed Bennis, Gamal el-Ghitani, Marilyn Hacker, Erdmute Heller, Herbert Mason, Yasir Suleiman, Susannah Tarbush, Saif al-Rahbi
News . . . In March 2008 Banipal won the UK Incwriters 2008 Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature (Magazines) – an immensely proud moment for the magazine to be “recognised, selected and celebrated by our peers in literature in the UK”. To see more, please visit http://www.incwriters.com.
News . . . In May 2008 Banipal, through its publisher Margaret Obank, was shortlisted for the inaugural Arab British Centre Culture and Society Award, and especially commended.
News . . . The 2008 Saif Ghobash – Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation was awarded at London's South Bank Centre last September. The annual prize awards £2,000 to the translator of a published translation in English of a full-length, imaginative and creative Arabic work of literary merit published in the 35 years prior to submission of the translation.
For more information about the prize, email: info@banipaltrust.org.uk or go to: http://www.banipaltrust.org.uk/prize/
News . . .: The Banipal – Arab British Centre Library of Modern Arab Literature will soon be launched, and ready to join at 1 Gough Square, London EC4A 3DE.
Banipal takes its name from Ashurbanipal, last great king of Assyria and patron of the arts, whose outstanding achievement was to assemble in Nineveh, from all over his empire, the first systematically organised library in the ancient Middle East. The thousands of clay tablets of Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian writings included the famous Mesopotamian epics of the Creation, the Flood, and Gilgamesh, many folk tales, fables, proverbs, prayers and omen texts.
Contact Details:
w: http://www.banipal.co.ukt: +44 (0)20 8568 9747
f: +44 (0)20 8568 8509
PO Box 22300
London
W13 8ZQ
United Kingdom


