''Banipal'' is an independent literary magazine dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Arab literature through translations in English. It was founded in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1998 by Margaret Obank and

Samuel Shimon Samuel Shimon (born 1956 in Al-Habbaniyah, Iraq) is an Iraqi writer and journalist of Assyrian descent. He left Iraq in 1979 with dreams of becoming a director in Hollywood, and has since then lived in Damascus, Amman, Beirut, Nicosia, Aden, Cairo ...

.Banipal magazine profile
/ref> The magazine is published three times a year. Since its inception, it has published works and interviews of numerous Arab authors and poets, many of them translated for the first time into English. It is also co-sponsor of the

Saif Ghobash–Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation The Banipal Prize, officially the Saif Ghobash–Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, is an annual award presented to a translator (or translators) for the published English translation of a full-length literary work in Arabic. The p ...

. As of December 2020, 69 issues of ''Banipal'' were published. Each issue usually focuses on a specific theme, recent issues focusing on

Libyan Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. All figures are from the United Nations Demographic Yearbooks ...

fiction,

Arab American Arab Americans ( or ) are Americans who trace ancestry to any of the various waves of immigrants from the Arabic-speaking countries. In the United States census, Arabs are racially classified as White Americans which is defined as "A person ha ...

authors, Iraqi authors, Literature in

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

Today, Writing in Dutch, etc. The magazine has been praised both by non-Arab and Arab commentators -

Gamal el-Ghitani Gamal al-Ghitani (, ; 9 May 1945 – 18 October 2015) was an Egyptian author of historical and political novels and cultural and political commentaries and was the editor-in-chief of the literary periodical '' Akhbar Al-Adab'' ("Cultural News") ...

James Kirkup James Harold Kirkup (23 April 1918 – 10 May 2009) was an English poet, translator and travel writer. He wrote more than 45 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays. He wrote under many pen-names including James Falconer, Aditya Jha, ...

Anton Shammas Anton Shammas (, ; born 1950), is a Palestinian writer, poet and translator of Arabic, Hebrew and English. Biography Anton Shammas was one of six children born to a Palestinian father and a Lebanese mother, who moved to Fassuta in the north of th ...

among others - for its role in diffusing Arab literature to a wider audience. The Iraqi poet, novelist and translator Fadhil Al Azzawi has said:

Contemporary authors featured in ''Banipal''

* Abbas Beydhoun * Abdel Aziz al-Maqalih * Abdellatif Laâbi * Abdelrahman Munif * Abdelwahab Meddeb * Abdullah Laroui * Abdul Kader el-Janabi * Abdu Khal * Abdul Wahab al-Bayati *

Adunis Ali Ahmad Said Esber (, Levantine Arabic, North Levantine ; born 1 January 1930), also known by the pen name Adonis or Adunis ( ), is a Syrian people, Syrian poet, essayist and translator. Maya Jaggi, writing for The Guardian stated "He led a mod ...

Ahmad Ali El Zein Ahmad Ali El Zein (born 1956) is a Lebanese novelist, documentary film maker and television journalist. He is best known for his trilogy of novels, ''The Edge of Oblivion'' (2007), ''Suhbat al-Tayer'' (2010) and ''Barid al-Ghouroub'' (2014). He l ...

* Ahmad Zein * Ahmed Fagih * Ahmed Bouzfour * Ahmed Rashid Thani * Ala Hlehel * Alawiyya Subh *

Albert Cossery Albert Cossery (3 November 1913 – 22 June 2008) was an Egyptian-born French writer. Although Cossery lived most of his life in Paris and only wrote in the French language, all of his novels were either set in his country of birth, Egypt, or in ...

* Ali al-Domaini * Ali al-Kasimi * Ali al-Muqri * Ali Mohammed Zayd * Amjad Nasser *

* Aroussia Naluti * Aziz Chouaki *

Badr Shakir al-Sayyab Badr Shakir al-Sayyab () (December 24, 1926 in Jaykur, Basra – December 24, 1964 in Kuwait) was an Iraqi poet, regarded as one of the most important contemporary Arab poets. Alongside Nazik Al Malaika, he is considered one of the founders of A ...

* Baha Eddine Taoud *

Bassam Frangieh Bassam Frangieh (born 1949, Arabic: بسام فرنجيه) is a Palestinian scholar of contemporary Arabic literature and culture. He is best known for his pedagogical innovations in the study of the Arabic language, as well as his translations ...

* Bassam Shamseldin * Bensalim Himmich *

Denys Johnson-Davies Denys Johnson-Davies (Arabic: دنيس جونسون ديڤيز) (also known as Abdul Wadud) was an eminent Arabic-to- English literary translator who translated, ''inter alia,'' several works by Nobel Prize-winning Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz, ...

* Diya al-Jubaily * Driss Chraïbi * Edward al-Kharrat *

Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American academic, literary critic, and political activist. As a professor of literature at Columbia University, he was among the founders of Postcolonialism, post-co ...

* Elias Khoury *

Etel Adnan Etel Adnan (; 24 February 1925 – 14 November 2021) was a Lebanese-American poet, essayist, and visual artist. In 2003, Adnan was named "arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab American author writing today" by the academic journal '' ...

* Ezzat el-Kamhawi * Fadhil al-Azzawi * Fady Joudeh * Fathi Abul Nasr * Ferial Ghazoul * Fuad al-Takarli *

Ghalib Halasa Ghalib Halasa (Arabic: غالب هلسا; December 3, 1932 – December 17, 1989) was a Jordanian novelist, short story writer, literary critic, translator, and political activist. He was a prominent literary figure in the Arabic-speaking world d ...

* Ghassan Zaqtan * Ghazi Algosaibi * Habib Abdulrab Sarori * Habib Selmi * Habib Tengour * Haifa Bitar * Halim Barakat *

Hanan al-Shaykh Hanan al-Shaykh (; born 12 November 1945) is a Lebanese author of contemporary literature. Biography Hanan al-Shaykh was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1945, into a strict Shi'a family. Her father and brother exerted strict social control over ...

* Hani al-Raheb * Hassan Abdulrazzak * Hassan Daoud * Hassan Nasr * Hassouna Mosbahi * Hoda Barakat * Huda Ablan * Hussain al-Mozany *

Huzama Habayeb Huzama Habayeb ( ) is a Palestinians, Palestinian novelist, Short story, storyteller, columnist, translator, and poet who has won multiple awards such as the Mahmoud Seif Eddin Al-Erani Award for Short Stories, Jerusalem Festival of Youth Innova ...

Ibrahim Nasrallah Ibrahim Nasrallah (; 2 December 1954), the winner of the Arabic Booker Prize (2018), was born in 1954 to Palestinian parents who were evicted from their land in Al-Burayj, Palestine in 1948. He spent his childhood and youth in a refugee camp ...

* Ibtisam Abdallah * Inaya Jaber * Ines Abassi *

Issa J Boullata Issa J. Boullata (‎; February 25, 1929 – May 1, 2019) was a Palestinian scholar, writer, and translator of Arabic literature. Biography He was born in Jerusalem on February 25, 1929 during the British Mandate of Palestine. He obtained ...

* Jalil al-Qaisi * Jamal Mahjoub * Jamila Omairah * Kadhim Jihad * Kamal Abdellatif * Kamal Ruhayyim *

Khaled Mattawa Khaled Mattawa (; born 1964) is a Libyan poet, and a renowned Arab-American writer, he is also a leading literary translator, focusing on translating Arabic poetry into English. He works as an Assistant professor of creative writing at the Unive ...

* Khalid Albudoor * Khulood Al Mu’alla * Lamia Makaddam * Lisa Suhair Majaj * Luay Hamza Abbas * Lutfiya al-Dulaimi * Mahdi Issa al-Saqr * Mahmood Abdel Wahab *

Mahmoud Darwish Mahmoud Darwish (; 13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008) was a Palestinians, Palestinian poet and author who was regarded as Palestine's national poet. In 1988 Darwish wrote the Palestinian Declaration of Independence, which was the formal declarat ...

* Mahmoud Shukair *

Mai Ghoussoub Mai Ghoussoub (; 2 November 1952, in Beirut – 17 February 2007, in London) was a Lebanese writer, artist, publisher and human rights activist. She was the co-founder in London of the Saqi bookshop and publishing house. Life Her father, Raymo ...

* Miled Faiza *

Miral al-Tahawy Miral al-Tahawy (), also known as Miral Mahgoub, is an Egyptian novelist and short story writer. She comes from a conservative Bedouin background and is regarded as a pioneering literary figure. The ''Washington Post'' has described her as "the fir ...

* Mohamed al-Bisatie * Mohamed Choukri * Mohamed Salah al-Azab * Mohammad al-Maghut * Mohammad al-Qaood * Mohammad al-Shaibani * Mohammad Ali Farhat * Mohammad Khodayyi * Mohammed Al-Harthi * Mohammed Bennis * Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine * Mohammed Mustagab * Mohammed Zefzaf * Mohja Kahf * Mona Yahia * Mouayed al-Rawi * Nabila al-Zubair * Nadia Alkowkobani *

Naguib Mahfouz Naguib Mahfouz Abdelaziz Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Basha (, ; 11 December 1911 – 30 August 2006) was an Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize in Literature. In awarding the prize, the Swedish Academy described him as a writer "who, through wo ...

Najwa Barakat Najwa Barakat (; born 1966, in Beirut) is a Lebanese Arab novelist, journalist and film director. Career After achieving studies in theater (Beirut Fine Arts Institute) and cinema (French cinema Institution), she moves definitely to Paris wh ...

* Nassif Falak * Nazih Abu Afash *

Nazik al-Malaika Nazik al-Malaika (; 23 August 1923 – 20 June 2007) was an Iraqi poet. Al-Malaika is noted for being among the first Arabic poets to use free verse. Early life and career Al-Malaika was born in Baghdad to a cultured family. Her mother Salma ...

* Nazum al-Obeidi * Nirvana Tanoukhi * Nizar Qabbani * Nouri al-Jarrah * Nujoom Al-Ghanem * Ounsi el Hage * Paul Chaoul * Qassim Haddad *

Rabee Jaber Rabee Jaber (; born 1972, Beirut) is a Lebanon, Lebanese novelist and journalist. Life Jaber studied Physics at the American University of Beirut (AUB). He is also editor of ''Afaaq'' (in Arabic language, Arabic آفاق meaning ''Horizons'' in ...

* Rachid al-Daif * Rachida Lamrabet *

Rafik Schami Rafik Schami () (born Suheil Fadel ()Clauer, Markus (n.d.) (trans. by Jonathan Uhlaner) Goethe Institut. 23 June 1946) is a Syrian-German author, storyteller and critic. Biography Born in Syria in 1946, Schami is the son of a baker from a Chr ...

* Ramsey Nasr *

Rasha Omran Rasha Omran () is a Syrian poet. She is one of the most important women Syrian poets and the author of seven poetry collections and an anthology of Syrian poetry. Biography Rasha Omran was born in 1964 in Tartus, Syria, into a family of Alaw ...

* Rashad Abu Shawar * Sa'adallah Wannus * Saadi Youssef * Said al-Kafrawi * Saif al-Rahbi * Salah Hassan * Salim Barakat * Salwa al-Neimi * Samar Yazbek * Samir Albufattah * Samir Naqqash * Saniya Salih *

Sargon Boulus Sargon Boulus (; ) was an Iraqi poet, journalist and writer. Born in 1944, he died on 22 October 2007. Biography Boulus was born on 10 March, 1944 in Habbaniyah, Iraq, to Assyrian parents. He studied journalism at Baghdad University and la ...

* Sawsan al-Areeqi * Shawqi Shafiq *

Tahar Ben Jelloun Tahar Ben Jelloun (; born 1 December 1944) is a Moroccan writer who rose to fame for his 1985 novel ''L'Enfant de sable'' ('' The Sand Child''). All of his work is written in French although his first language is Darija. He has been nominated f ...

Tayeb Salih Tayeb Salih (; 12 July 1929 – 18 February 2009) was a Sudanese writer, novelist, cultural journalist for the BBC Arabic programme as well as for Arabic journals, and a staff member of UNESCO. He is best known for his novel ''Season of Migration ...

Turki al-Hamad Turki al-Hamad (, ; born 10 March 1952) is a Saudi Arabian political analyst, journalist, and novelist, best known for his trilogy about the coming-of-age of Hisham al-Abir, a Saudi Arabian teenager, the first installment of which, ''Adama'', was ...

Vénus Khoury-Ghata Vénus Khoury-Ghata (born 1937 in Bsharri, Lebanon) is a Lebanese people in France, French-Lebanese poet and writer. Early life Venus Khoury-Ghata was born into a Maronites, Maronite family, the daughter of a French-speaking soldier and a peasa ...

* Wacini Laradg *

Wajdi al-Ahdal Wajdi al-Ahdal (, born 1973) is a Yemeni novelist, short story writer and playwright. Laureate of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) in 2008, is known for his contemporary literary style and sometimes socially critical works, some ...

Wilfred Thesiger Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger (3 June 1910 – 24 August 2003), also known as Mubarak bin Landan (, ''the blessed one of London'') was a British military officer, explorer, and writer. Thesiger's travel books include '' Arabian Sands'' (1959), ...

* Yasmine Khlat * Yasser Abdel Baqi *

Yasser Abdel Hafez Yasser Abdel Hafez (Arabic: ياسر عبد الحفيظ), (born 1969) is an Egyptian novelist and journalist. He was born in Cairo and studied law at Ain Shams University. He has worked as a journalist for the Arabic-language literary journal Akhb ...

* Youssef Rakha * Yusef Habshi al-Ashqar * Zakariyya Tamer

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
Literary magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines published in London Magazines established in 1998 Triannual magazines published in the United Kingdom Literary translation magazines