When Diwan Publishing unveiled its first editions of 12 of Naguib Mahfouz’s novels, the first tranche of a new deal with the late Nobel laureate’s estate in 2022, the reaction from the Egyptian literary establishment was visceral.
Prominent critics reportedly questioned the covers, which eschewed the traditional and folkloric imagery associated with previous editions for something more surrealistic and contemporary.
Eyebrows were further raised over the following years, when the Cairo publisher released the rest of Mahfouz’s 35 novels with updated visuals, as well as in the form of graphic novels and coffee-table books.
Speaking to The National from the Cairo International Book Fair, ending on February 3 and where Mahfouz is celebrated as the event’s Cultural Personality, Diwan Publishing co-founder Ahmed Qarmalawi says the initial reaction was anticipated rather than surprising.
“The thing is, people thought we were doing these things just to please ourselves or simply to make noise, when in reality it was all part of a plan executed with the family of the late, great Mahfouz,” he explains.
“The plan from day one was to bring Mahfouz’s work to a new generation, who perhaps only know him from his photographs or the way he is talked about, and not from reading the works. His stories are timeless, as borne out by the fact that he remains the first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, so we wanted to honour him by presenting his work in a way that is not encumbered by the old visual language we are used to.”
Established in 2002 and best known as one of Egypt’s most prominent independent bookstore chains, Diwan Publishing never pitched for the rights to Mahfouz’s catalogue when it was up for grabs after a 17-year run with Dar El Shorouk. Qarmalawi recalls the team being approached by an intermediary of Hoda Naguib Mahfouz, the author’s daughter who manages his estate.
“To be honest, just having that meeting was kind of surreal,” Qarmalawi recalls. “But when we proposed that we wanted to really bring his work to a new generation, which also meant presenting it with covers by young Egyptian artists and across different mediums, we realised that this was what she had been looking for all along.”
Beginning with a dozen books, including the seminal Cairo Trilogy – Palace Walk (1956), Palace of Desire (1957) and Sugar Street (1957) – the steady release continued, with the latest including an English edition of the previously published graphic novel The Thief and the Dogs, adapted from Mahfouz’s novel of the same name, as well as an Arabic-language biography titled Naguib Mahfouz: The Original and the Image, available in various formats, including a coffee-table edition featuring archival photographs.
The more intensive work, Qarmalawi recalls, was not in the visual presentation alone. Diwan began each project by establishing an in-house committee of literary experts and editors to examine multiple versions of each Mahfouz novel.
“Some of the levels of inconsistency were glaring, and that was apparent in different forms over decades,” he says.
“Mahfouz was open at times about how some of his books were edited. A lot of this was down to censorship. There were deletions and interventions that affected the text. There were also issues such as typos and editorial mistakes that reflected the varying standards of publishing at the time. I feel that with our editions, we came as close as possible to producing the most accurate representations of the novels.”
While the initial reaction in Egypt was slow to soften, Qarmalawi says audiences in the Gulf immediately took to the new vision.
He recalls Diwan Publishing participating in the 2024 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, where Mahfouz was the event’s Focus Personality, and where his books were snapped up by young readers.
“And that is also because the book fair’s parent organisation, the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, instinctively supported the idea of what we and Hoda Mahfouz wanted to do when it came to presenting the work,” he says.
“People who went to that fair will remember a dedicated Naguib Mahfouz interactive pavilion, which we also helped to set up. These things go a long way in moving Mahfouz and his work from being viewed as museum pieces to something current and vital.”
While the length of the contract has not been publicly disclosed, Qarmalawi says the publishing house will continue to find new ways to bring Mahfouz’s stories back to the fore.
“This is not just a professional way of doing things,” he says. “I am first and foremost a reader and a writer from Egypt. I feel this is a responsibility, to take part in keeping this great legacy alive.”
Cairo International Book Fair runs until February 3
