18 December 2007

INTERVIEW: INSIDE LITERATURE

Editor's note: The following interview with Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon of the literary magazine Banipal is the fifth in a series for which The Daily Star periodically seeks out and sits down with various, established cultural figures who work behind the scenes, provide a vital link between artists and audiences and are more often than not the unsung heroes of their fields. The point of the "Inside Interview" series is to delve into the mechanics of specific disciplines through the insights and experiences of people who work tirelessly to bring creative expression in the Arab world to a broader and often international public. Those mechanics may be political and financial as well as artistic. Interview subjects in the series include curators of contemporary art, literary translators, film festival programmers and producers and promoters working in dance, theater, music and more.

LONDON: It's the day after the second annual award ceremony for the 2007 Saif Ghobash-Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, won by Farouk Abdel-Wahab (aka Farouk Mustafa) for his translation of Khairy Shalaby's "The Lodging House," published by the American University of Cairo Press. Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon, couple extraordinaire and founders of Banipal, are at their home in London talking about their magazine. Shimon, an Iraqi-born writer and the assistant editor of Banipal, jumps up intermittently to serve champagne and chop garlic and parsley for the foul he is preparing.

Banipal was founded nearly a decade ago for the purpose of bringing modern Arabic literature to a wider, Western audience. Published three times a year and edited by Obank, it runs Arabic-to-English translations of short stories, excerpts from novels and poetry by authors from across the Mideast. It counts Anton Shammas, Sinan Antoon and Issa Boullata among its contributing editors.

In 2004, Banipal also began publishing books, such as "Sardines and Oranges," a collection of North African short stories, and Jad al-Hage's novel "The Myrtle Tree."

It's not an exaggeration to say the magazine has become a quintessential bridge between Arab writers and readers in the West, giving unrivaled insight into the region's tremendously varied cultures. As Saadi Youssef, an Iraqi poet and author, once said of Banipal: "How did it come [to be] that a young English lady, i.e. Margaret Obank, shoulders virtually the ultimate responsibility of saving and promoting a doomed culture: Arab modern writing in general? A culture, ignored by its own people (no readers), and gagged by the Arab rulers (the heavy hand of censorship) ... With Banipal, we are a resistance movement!"

Margaret Obank and Samuel Shimon like to say that Banipal is an old-fashioned labor of love.

Q: How did Banipal begin?

MO: I've always been into literature ... and I was keen to read Arabic literature. I kept going to bookshops and [after] I met Samuel, I began to meet Arab authors who were well known in the Arab world but their books weren't available here. There was literature in translation from everywhere in the world but not the Arab world. Samuel was a part of the literary scene and we both had the skills to design and produce a magazine. We wanted it to be an up-market publication for discerning readers, like the TLS [Times Literary Supplement] or Harper's. We wanted the actual writings, not a commentary on the writings. We still feel that way.

Q: What was the reaction to Banipal when it first came out in 1998?

MO: Authors thought it was fantastic and so did the translators. Many of them were working in academia and really wanted this project to bring Arab literature into the Western world. There was a great thirst to be quenched.

Q: How do you find translators and what is the translation process before final versions go into the magazine?

MO: Many of the translators find us. Most of them are European or based in the US, while translators for poetry are from Arab countries. Three years ago we started getting enquiries from recent graduates in Arabic or PhD students. It's an excellent collaboration because they get feedback and connections and we get top quality translations. A translation comes to me, then it goes to a copy editor, then I do some editing, it goes back to the copy editor and then to the translator. Our translators really try to get what the meaning is into English. They're not free translations. We're conscious of the fact that the reader is getting a glimpse of a novel or a small selection of poems and we want them to come back for more.

Q: You just awarded the Saif Ghobash-Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, worth just over $4,000. When was this established?

MO: I noticed there wasn't a single prize for an Arabic translation of a book. Translating is not an easy task; it needs a special insight into the particular writer and their style of writing, and painstaking patience as well as meticulous linguistic skills. We set about raising funds. Omar Saif Ghobash [from the United Arab Emirates] generously sponsored the prize in memory of his late father who was passionate about literature. This is our second year and we have funds to continue for another five years. 

Q: How do you select authors for Banipal?

MO: Samuel reads them in Arabic first. The writing has to be interesting and modern, particularly with poetry, because there are still problems in the Arab world in terms of accepting prose poems and non-rhyming poems. We look for quality, for new writers, young writers who have something to say. We want to show what's happening in the Arab world, that this is the literary scene today.

SS: Sometimes I choose writing I don't necessarily like but it has gotten good reviews in the Arab world and is respected so I feel that it is important because it is part of this scene. Banipal isn't a club or a magazine where we only publish friends' work.

Q: What has the reaction to Banipal been like in the Arab world?

MO: Arab authors regard Banipal as their magazine. It's a gateway for them. Many authors say we need a Banipal in Arabic.

Q: How about in the West?

MO: Reactions are sometimes more muted. People just accept that we're there. That said we're very much appreciated by the literary magazine fraternity. Our kitchen is like a cultural center that people turn to when they need someone to bridge the gap between the Arab and the European worlds.

Q: Did you ever think Banipal would become so successful?

MO: We want it to become much more. One of the things we've discovered is that people like to see and hear authors. With the help of Arts Council England we've organized author tours and we regularly do events. We're also very conscious of the fact that we need to develop more on the Internet. But there are only two of us.

SS: We are thinking of putting video and audio on our Web site so people can hear writers and poets reading out loud. But it's not easy. We've been working at it for 10 years and turned our home into a 24-hour publishing house. We really need an office. We really need a secretary. I'm tired. She's not!

For more information on Banipal, please see www.banipal.co.uk