Founded in London in 1983 with roots in Lebanon, Saqi Books has built a reputation for publishing works that challenge conventional narratives about the Middle East and North Africa. Over the years, Saqi has become an essential, ever-growing publisher for voices that explore the region’s cultural, historical, and literary landscapes.
This feature will explore Saqi Books’ diverse catalogue, which includes art, photography, cooking, philosophy, history and contemporary fiction. By publishing influential authors like Tahar Ben Jelloun, Mahmoud Darwish, and Nawal El Saadawi, Saqi has ensured that important voices in Arabic literature reach English-speaking audiences. Their imprints, The Westbourne Press and Telegram, extend this commitment by tackling pressing global issues and showcasing emerging talent worldwide.
As Edward Said observed, Saqi Books assembles “a diverse cross-section of contemporary work from the Arab world.” In the rest of this article, we’ll highlight some of the books we recommend, showcasing how Saqi’s publishing continues to open up and add to conversations about culture, history and identity.
The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf
Written by French-Lebanese novelist Amin Maalouf and translated by Jon Rothschild, The Crusades Through Arab Eyes provides a fresh perspective on the Crusades, as it has often been told through a European lens. From an Arabic perspective, the 12th and 13th centuries were defined by a brutal invasion and the immense effort to rebel against it. Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub, sultan and founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, eventually led the Muslim army to success against the Crusaders.
Maalouf has explored the numerous works of Arab historians and experts on the Crusades, recounting the stories of eyewitnesses and participants of the period. With vivid descriptions and powerful accounts of the past, Maalouf retraced a key part of Arab history and explains how it affects Arab and Islamic society today.
Beyond the Veil by Fatema Mernissi
In this study, sociologist and advocate for women’s rights Fatema Mernissi seeks to challenge the association of Islam with women’s oppression. Mernissi explores how Islam celebrates women’s power and has done for many years. She attributes women’s oppression to the political manipulation and distortion of religion by Muslim male elites seeking to enforce a false, patriarchal idea of the religion.
In her book, she seeks to change the narrative and explore how male and female dynamics in modern Muslim society have vastly been organised by patriarchal ideas that contradict Islam. She argues that early Muslim scholars viewed women as aggressive and forced men to control women by implementing structures such as veiling. She explores how the significant presence of Muslim women in Arab media in the 21st century proves her point that Islam celebrates and empowers women. Originally published in 1975, the novel did not come to Britain until Saqi Books published it.
C+nto & Othered Poems by Joelle Taylor
C+nto was published in 2021 by the imprint The Westbourne Press and won the T.S. Elliot Prize 2021 and Polari Prize 2022, the top award in the UK’s only dedicated awards for LGBT+ literature. The name of the collection means to narrate, tell, or recount. The central themes are sexuality, gender, feminism, queerness, the female body as a political space, history, magic and rebellion. Joelle Taylor writes lyrical, expansive, imagistic, epic and intimate poetry. The poetry focuses on the private lives of women from the butch counterculture in London and the story of the protest they led in the 90s to reclaim their bodies as their own.
Joelle Taylor expresses through her poems the political moments of LGBTQ+ history and the homophobic hatred and violence which queer women had to face. Instead of showing the progress made by the movement, Taylor wants to show us everything else we must fight for. For instance, 72 countries still criminalise same-sex relationships. Her poems remind their readers of the importance of not giving up and realising their power: “Every part of a woman is a weapon if you know how to hold it.”
In Kate Kellaway’s view, C+nto is made up of “punchy tales of lesbian life.” Diana Souhami said of the collection: “C+nto will open eyes, hearts and minds. Here is poetry that defends our right to walk without fear, wear what we choose, and be who we uniquely are.” Significantly, books like C+nto are published to remind everyone of the struggles and control of others. Saqi Books shows that every voice should be heard.