Cairo

welcomed the

writers and readers of the

writings of the

late novelist Naguib Mahfouz contracted by

step with his family Hindawi Foundation to publish books stored on electronic platform.

"The Hindawi Foundation has contracted with the family of the international writer Naguib Mahfouz to publish his complete works on its electronic platforms for free," the foundation said through its account on Twitter.

The contract between the writer's family and the institution is not exclusive, as the family has the right to contract with other institutions for both paper and electronic publishing.

There is good news that the Hindawi Foundation has taken over the rights to the novels of our uncle Naguib Mahfouz.


At least the novels that were sunrise postponed their printing for years, they will be available in PDf legally,


meaning a lot of happiness for the next period ❤

— Sabry (@SABRY__A) September 19, 2021

The Hendawy Foundation will buy property rights to Naguib Mahfouz's books, and this is great news if you know

— AhmedTarek…🇪🇬 (@_____6666____) September 19, 2021

Great news.. Naguib Mahfouz's works will be legally available electronically for free on the Hendawy Foundation platform.

(Hendawy provides Epub and Kindle text versions)

After the contract of Dar Al-Shorouk expires in April 2022.

Sincere thanks to Professor Umm Kulthum Naguib Mahfouz, and the Hindawi Foundation @ahmedhindawi# Hindawi Foundation pic.twitter.com/NlTEengCD6

— Ahmed Fouad (@ahmoda) September 19, 2021

There is still news that the Hindawi Foundation has acquired the electronic publishing rights of Naguib Mahfouz's works, and the Hindawi Foundation will be available in the Kindle version, so this is a very great need.

— Salah Hegazi (@salahhegazi96) September 19, 2021

devaluation

Amid the welcome of those interested, followers of the cultural affairs in Egypt saw that the publisher's current concern indicates a step not to renew the contract with the institution.

Those close to the Mahfouz family told Al-Jazeera Net that the daughter of the late writer Umm Kulthum negotiated with Dar Al-Shorouk to improve the terms of the contract concluded since the end of the last century, in an effort to obtain a greater share of the proceeds of sales of books, but the institution stuck to the terms of the contract with Naguib Mahfouz in his life.

Al-Shorouk Foundation’s contract expires next year, and Mahfouz’s daughter is heading to contract with other institutions. Informed sources told Al Jazeera Net that negotiations with Al-Shorouk stumbled due to the small amount offered by Al-Shorouk to the daughter, while the latter received offers to double the amount from Arab and international publishing houses.

International intellectual property law provides for the perpetuation of copyright rights at least fifty years after his death, after which it becomes common. Years ago, the Wafd Party submitted a bill to extend the period to 70 years, and it was approved.

Umm Kulthum said, in press statements, that she will publish her father's books in electronic form after the end of the Dar Al-Shorouk contract scheduled for next April.

The daughter expressed her astonishment at the anger of "some people" from this agreement on electronic publishing, "without addressing the electronic burglary of the writer's books." Despite this, his sales continue, expressing her belief that the anger is caused by "the family receiving a financial compensation in exchange for granting this right to the Hindawi Foundation." .

Not only did the agreement with Hindawi anger Dar Al-Shorouk, but it also worried other publishing houses that were hoping to seize the opportunity to publish Adeeb Al-Harafish’s work in full, given that “electronic publishing reduces their chances of profit through paper,” according to two publishers.

Mahfouz's daughter and others lost a lawsuit two months ago against the American University in Cairo over publishing the writer's books without permission, and the court's refusal was based on the existence of a contract between the late writer and the university to publish his books.

Umm Kulthum accused Dar Al-Shorouk of having sold the rights to Mahfouz's works to American publishing and production companies without referring to his family.

precious legacy

Mahfouz died in 2006, leaving a great legacy of novels. He also wrote collections of short stories and scenarios for a number of films. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988, and his two daughters, Faten and Umm Kulthum, received the award on his behalf, and Faten passed away in 2017.

Umm Kulthum began to go out to public life after the death of her sister, to explode a surprise in her first media appearance, stressing that the Nile necklace that the presidency gave her to her father was fraudulent and not of gold, as is the case.

Sources close to the negotiations that took place between the two sides said that Al-Shorouk offered the daughter the same amount that has been in place for 20 years, while she received an offer for a new contract from one of the Arab publishing houses for one million dollars, and one of the Saudi publishing houses offered an amount of more than 3 million dollars.

And the publisher, Muhammad al-Baali, believed that the daughter still had an opportunity to contract with other publishing houses, according to the terms of the contract concluded with Hindawi.

Al-Baali - who is the director of Safsafa Publishing House - denied any negative impact of electronic publishing on paper, stressing that the paper book is still at the forefront of demand even if a free electronic copy of it is made available, and it will never be a substitute for it, inferred by the millions of visitors to book fairs and their preference to buy printed.

The speaker expressed his belief that the benefit of such a contract for electronic publishing is to expand the reach of the book to remote areas that reach the Internet and print books do not reach in abundance, as well as that it will contribute to stopping the phenomenon of theft of books and selling them electronically.

The books of Naguib Mahfouz are the best-selling literary works, and there is no adequate and accurate statistics of the volume of sales in light of the case of illegal copies and selling books on sidewalks, but official publishing officials stated before in Mahfouz’s life that his official sales amount to about 3,000 copies only. Annually, a figure that does not at all reflect real sales.

Followers of publishing affairs are likely that the next contract will not deviate from what a publishing house has already working on publishing the books of the owner of "The Thief and the Dogs".

Among the candidates is the name of the Egyptian Lebanese Publishing House. In 2019, the house announced the publication of Mahfouz's articles, dating back to 1930 and until his death, in 3 books under the title "The Annals of Naguib Mahfouz".

Mahfouz wrote more than a thousand articles, and his writing preceded his novelistic creativity, and it varied between philosophy, which is his academic field of study, and religion and culture.

Among the names nominated for the contract is the Lebanese Dar Al-Saqi, which recently published a collection of unknown stories by a Nobel writer called "Whisper of the Stars", which is not covered by the family's contract with the current publisher.

The name of the publishing house "Diwan Library" was also mentioned as part of the ongoing negotiations to inherit Dar Al-Shorouk to publish Mahfouz's work.

The lists of applicants for the competition to publish the creations of the international writer of all kinds were devoid of the names of government publishing institutions.

The family is looking - according to sources close to it - for a publisher for the audio application of works by the late writer's voice.

The journey of the late writer began with the publication in 1939, publishing articles in literary periodicals and newspapers.

Mahfouz published his first novel, "The Absurdity of Destinies" in 1943, after suffering with publishing houses. At that time, writer Abdel Hamid Joudeh Al-Sahar decided to collect the unknown authors at the time, and formed a publishing committee for university academics in the library, which periodically publishes a book for each author subscribed to the committee in return for a monthly subscription of two pounds, which is a large number. By the standards of that time.

The fledgling house published the novel "Radopis" by Naguib Mahfouz, drawing great attention to him.

The late thinker and critic Sayyid Qutb - author of "In the Shadows of the Qur'an" - predicted Naguib Mahfouz a promising future, a prophecy that was fulfilled about half a century later.

El-Sehar established the Egyptian Library later to become the historical publisher of Naguib Mahfouz's works, until Mahfouz became angry at the statements of the director of the house and the heir of El-Sahar regarding the decline in Naguib's sales, so he asked to stop printing his works.

In 2000, Dar Al-Shorouk contacted Naguib Mahfouz with an offer of one million pounds in exchange for the right to publish his works for 20 years (the dollar at that time was about 5 pounds).

Between the two stages, Mahfouz suffered from restrictions in publishing some of his works following the publication of his novel "The Children of Our Neighborhood" in Al-Ahram newspaper in 1959, so the Lebanese House of Arts resisted its publication in 1967.

The American University in Cairo translates Naguib Mahfouz's work and announces an annual award in his name.