Kalima Invites Americans to Nominate Literature for Translation into Arabic

What literature best captures American dreams, opportunities and challenges? Which books could help build mutual understanding between the United States and the Arab World?

Kalima—a non-profit initiative which translates classic and contemporary writing into Arabic—invites Americans to nominate US novels, poetry or short stories for translation for Arabic readers worldwide.

Help build bridges through literature by completing the nomination form below.

Complete and submit the form below to make your nomination and tell us why you made your choice.

Title *

Author

Why do you think this work should be translated?

Name

Email address

If you provide your e-mail, we will send the results of the nominations and an update on new titles for 2008.

About Kalima

Kalima (“word” in Arabic), is one of the Arab world’s boldest and most significant cultural initiatives. Kalima seeks to widen access to books and knowledge by funding the translation, publication, and distribution of classic and contemporary writing from other languages into Arabic, each year. Currently in most Arabic countries, many works of world literature or academia are available only in their original language, making them inaccessible for most readers. To put the scale of the problem into perspective, Spain translates in one year the number of books that have been translated into Arabic in the last 1,000 years (2003 Arab Human Development Report, UNDP).