Publisher of Arabic Works (in English) Freezing New Titles

The Literary Saloon wrote about this yesterday, but I had to scramble to confirm that this doesn’t affect my beloved Stealth before I could repeat the news.

It doesn’t, el hamdulallah. Sonallah Ibrahim’s Stealth is available now from Amazon UK and will soon appear in the U.S. I’ve only seen the PDF, but translator Hosam Aboul-ela (who does excellent work here) reports that he’s received his copies.

Now to the bad news from the press that brought out Khaled al-Khamissi’s Taxi and Ibrahim’s Stealth, as well as titles from elsewhere in the “Warm World.” Aflame co-founder Richard Bartlett wrote in a recent e-mail:

The impact of the recession has brought Aflame to a critical point, and we face a difficult choice. Our limited cash flow has made it all but impossible to continue as we have so far.
…
In short, without an injection of further resources, we have reached the stage at which we cannot ensure Aflame’s continued survival.

We are now forced to take desperate measures in light of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. To limit any further drain on our dwindling resources, we must put a halt to all new titles, including those already scheduled for 2010 but not yet produced and printed.

What’s worse, for those hoping for more Arabic literature in translation:

We shall not be taking on new titles and will not be planning a frontlist until our future become more certain.

So, go on. Go buy a copy of Taxi, and at least one of Stealth.