Hachette Antoine was set up in 2009 as a 50/50 joint venture between the French group Hachette Livre and Librairie Antoine, the Lebanese bookseller founded in 1933. It absorbed Naufal, a publishing house dating to 1970, which became its main imprint for Arabic literature. Naufal releases about 25 titles a year, mostly original Arabic fiction and nonfiction by writers from the region and diaspora, and also buys and translates international bestsellers, from Robert Galbraith to Guillaume Musso. Beyond literature, the house publishes children's and young adult books, cookbooks including Lebanese cuisine, self-help, reference works and dictionaries, and French-language school textbooks. Recent Naufal sellers have included Joumana Haddad's novel Victim 232 and Mazen Maarouf's short stories. It works as a separate publisher from the Antoine bookshop chain.
Hachette Antoine at a glance
- Joint venture of Hachette Livre and Librairie Antoine since 2009
- Naufal imprint publishes about 25 titles a year
- Naufal's publishing history dates back to 1970
- Publishes in Arabic, English and French