By Brian Whitaker
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When my book, Arabs Without God, was published last year, people asked if there would also be an Arabic edition. That seemed like a good idea and I began exploring ways of doing it.
There have been a few delays but I'm happy to say that most of the text has now been translated and I'm aiming to have the Arabic edition ready for publication in September.
Because of distribution and censorship issues with printed books in the Middle East, the plan is to make it available in electronic form where it can be downloaded from the internet free of charge.
The Arabic edition will be published under a Creative Commons licence allowing people to make copies, print it out if they wish, circulate it to friends, etc.
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Multiple locations
The book, obviously, will be available for downloading here at al-bab.com but I am hoping other websites will be willing to host it too, as a gesture of solidarity with people in the Middle East who are struggling for the right to think and believe as they see fit.
If you think you may be able to help with that, please let me know.
Multiple formats
Potentially, the book can be produced in a variety of formats – plain text, Word document, PDF, html, epub, mobi, etc. I would like to know which formats readers (especially in the Middle East) think would be the most useful.
For Word or PDF files, I'm also wondering what page setup would be most convenient for reading or printing out. Should it be an A4 page or would people prefer something more book-like, such as two smaller pages that can be printed side by side on one sheet? If you have any thoughts about this, please post them in the comments section below or send me an email.
I'm also looking for volunteers to help with formatting once the translation is completed.
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Italian edition
An Italian edition, translated by Giordano Vintaloro – and with a very lively cover – has just been published under the title "Arabi senza Dio: Ateismo e libertà di culto in Medio Oriente".
To coincide with this, I have a 3,000-word article (in Italian) in the latest issue of MicroMega. This particular issue is on the theme of “Laicità o barbarie” (Secularism or Barbarism) and has contributions from the poet Adonis and novelist Hanif Kurieshi among others.
For non-Italian speakers, an English version of my MicroMega article is here.
French edition?
I think there's also a market for Arabs Without God in France. I'd be happy to discuss it further with any French publishers who see this post and would also welcome suggestions from readers for French publishers that I might approach.
Posted by Brian Whitaker
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Posted by Brian Whitaker
Thursday, 25 June 2015
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