Saqi Books

Saqi Books is a leading independent publisher of trade and academic books on the Middle East and North Africa. For almost four decades, we have offered an independent platform for writers and artists from around the world, releasing cutting-edge, ground-breaking works including The Crusades through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf, Beyond the Veil by Fatema Mernissi, Black Britain: A Photographic History by Paul Gilroy and The White Family by Maggie Gee. We are also proud to bring out in English translation the best in new and classic Arabic literature, including works by Naguib Mahfouz, Mahmoud Darwish, Adonis and Nawal El Saadawi. Saqi’s internationally renowned authors have prominence not just for the quality of their prose, but for their contributions to public debate. We publish cutting-edge, authoritative voices from around the world, which helps to form a clearer picture of these misrepresented communities, and to challenge dominant narratives. Through releasing innovative and seminal works about the Middle East, North Africa and beyond, Saqi has become a byword for the development and promotion of Middle Eastern culture. Our efforts to bring censored works and authors into the light are an important contribution to keeping the range of Middle Eastern writing diverse, alive and provocative. The inclusion of minority authors among our lists helps, we hope, to demolish cultural barriers that might otherwise reinforce political or geographic ones. Saqi Books was awarded the IPG Diversity Award in 2013, the British Book Industry Award for Diversity in Literature in 2009 and the Arab British Culture and Society award in 2008. 'A list of exceptional writers’ The Guardian 'Anyone interested in Arab culture is aware of the invaluable role Saqi plays in making available pioneering, specialist and often controversial books that large publishers refuse to go near.’ The Times