Visit, and Bring Donations to, the BALMAL Arab Library in London

BALMAL — the Banipal Arab British Centre Library of Modern Arab Literature — is calling for book donations:

The library,  at 1 Gough Square in London, contains volumes of fiction, poetry, plays, and memoirs by Arab authors translated into English or in the English original. The library opened in January 2010 and has, according to a mailing from Banipal, been growing since: It now has more than 400 books.

Banipal aims to maintain an up-to-date list of all translated literary works by Arab authors. At present, their list includes over 900 titles – and they’d like to add as many of these as possible to the library. The books are mostly translated from Arabic, although works by Arab authors writing in other languages are also welcome: The library also contains literature translated from French, German, and Dutch.

If you would like to contribute, contact agnes [at] banipal [dot] co [dot] uk for more information. They offer to acknowledge your donation both in the library and on their website.

For those who want to visit the library: Contact the Arab British Centre at 020 7832 1310 or email info [at] arabbritishcentre [dot] org [dot] uk to make an appointment. The library is open 9:30 am to 5.30 pm Monday to Thursday and 9:30 am to 4:30 pm on Fridays. Those who want to join must pay a one-time fee of £10; with a library card, you can borrow up to three books.

You can browse a partial catalog online.