Sherif Bakr

Sherif Bakr is an Egyptian publisher who has headed Al Arabi Publishing and Distributing since 1997. A 40-year-old family business, its list of publications ranges from biographies and academic works to fiction and children’s books. Bakr also invests great effort into translated literature and has taken on an enlightening mission: to find and create links between Arab culture and the rest of the world. Bakr aims to publish books that would broaden the horizons of Arab readers and open their minds. Bakr also highly values the work of editors, which is not yet very common in the Arab World. Our festival invited Bakr to talk about literature and publishing in the Arab World, to get an insight into the mentality of this powerful culture and its relations with contemporary [Western] literature.