“Qifa nabki”
Stop, let’s weep.
Old Arab lament.
To stand upon the ruins.
Love found. Love lost.
Arabs are about love.
An old world that has seen many waves, that lives upon many ruins.
Zeitouna searches the ruins for beauty and love.
Founded in 1988 by Sherif Boraie, Zeitouna Press is Egypt’s art publisher dedicated to unearthing the gems of Arab and Egyptian heritage, a meagre attempt to set history right.
With 40 illustrated books, Zeitouna winds its way through time, weaving histories of pharaohs, princesses, actors, artifacts, and uprisings.
Guided by a deep connection to history, Boraie meticulously curates each work. His research has led him to libraries, archives and private collections breathing life into a crumbling, disappearing heritage.
From a debut with the 7th Century Rasail (The Letters) of al-Junaid, the first Sufi mystic, and avant-garde Egyptian-French writer Albert Cossery; to the little acclaimed pioneer orientalist Prisse d’Avennes; from Bonfils, the Beirut-based French photographic studio, to the messianic American Colony photo archive in Jerusalem, and the early photo studios in Cairo; from Princess Nevine Halim’s illustrated memoirs of the Egyptian royal family to Naguib Mafouz’s post-1967 debacle Mirrors, illustrated by Seif Wanli; from the voices of the street artists and graffiti erupting during the Egyptian revolution to multiple volumes on Cinema Cairo, culminating in a resounding Vive L’Amour, Zeitouna continues.
