Livres des deux rives (Books from both shores) is a two-year project led by the Institut français. Bringing together book industry professionals from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and France, Livres des deux rives will encourage cooperative projects in the book sector. It is hoped that this pilot project will grow to include other neighbouring countries around the Mediterranean in Europe and the Arab world.

Financed by the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs as part of the cooperation funding scheme for innovative projects, Livres des deux rives aims to contribute to the dialogue between civil societies in the Mediterranean by encouraging networking and partnerships between book professionals and to contribute to strengthening the book and publishing sector as a cultural and creative industry in the Mediterranean.

Following extensive research on both sides of the Mediterranean, a multilateral, partnership-based approach has emerged with three main priorities:

• Translating, with the aim of increasing translation between French and Arabic, while supporting the professionalisation of translators.

• Publishing, with the aim of encouraging exchanges and co-financed projects between book professionals of eligible countries and enabling promotion and distribution to a larger audience. Additionally, there will be a special focus on the children’s book sector in the south with a common aim to support children’s publishing, editorial exchanges, and a reciprocal dialogue between young people on both shores.

• Networking, with the aim of fostering mutual understanding between professionals via increased knowledge about their respective working environments.

Translating a selection of works from Arabic to French

A selection of works in humanities and social sciences to be translated from Arabic into French. This catalogue is a selective anthology of the production in humanities and social sciences from the Arab world. It presents a variety of works in humanities, in different fields and forms, from sociology to history and anthropology, from collections of essays to biographies. The editorial committee, composed of researchers and translators Sadia Agsous-Bienstein, Nisrine Al Zahre, Pierre Girard and Franck Mermier, consulted with experts in their field to put together this selection. The experts were then commissioned to write an extensive review of each book, with the aim of allowing publishers in the humanities to feel more confident to publish translations of these works. These reviews can also be used as secondary sources by researchers. This catalogue was coordinated and published by ATLAS as an online resource as part of the translation strand of the project “Livres des deux rives”. Document in French.

Books funded by the Livres des deux rives project

Between 2021 and 2023 the Livres des deux rives project, led by the French Institute, set up a publishing axis to encourage a dialogue via books between the two shores of the Mediterranean. The project made it possible to support the publication of 25 works including translations, in the field of human and social sciences, adult literature, children’s literature, and comics. Funding went towards editorial production in the Mediterranean in four target countries: Algeria, France, Morocco, and Tunisia. Support went to 24 different publishing houses, 14 translations (5 from Arabic into French and 9 from French into Arabic), 9 children’s literature projects, 3 comic strips, and 8 North-South and South-South co-publishing projects. Document in French.