GU-Q Book Club’s Partnership with the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies Expands to Include Qatar National Library

Since its inception in the fall of 2016, the Georgetown Arabic Book Club has been steadily attracting a wider audience and diversifying its members. Most recently, the book club’s partnership with the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies expanded to include the collaboration of the Qatar National Library (QNL).

Yehia Mohamed, associate professor at GU-Q, organizer of the Arabic Book Club, reached out to the director of the Qatar National Library (QNL), who welcomed the opportunity to participate in the club.

Professor Mohamed said: “After the launch of the partnership with the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies (DIGS) last year, we decided to reach out to QNL over the summer to explore more collaborative opportunities. We agree on the shared vision to promote reading, and our first joint event took place in October 2019 with a very diverse audience. It was certainly beneficial to have a boost from QNL as well as DIGS, which  promoted and contributed to the event.”

Books featured in the club include [The History of Recording History] by professor Wajih Kawtharany, who also attended the discussion. Other titles include [My Intellectual Journey] by Dr. Abdul Wahab Al-Meseiri, [The Impossible State] by Professor Wael Halaq, and [You Won’t Speak My Language] by professor Abdul Fattah Kilito, among others.

The Arabic Book Club is a part of the cultural, academic, and professional activities offered by the GU-Q Arabic Language Program, which was established in 2007 to teach the Arabic language, and promote Arabic literature and culture to students.

Announcements of upcoming book club meetings are shared every month in local digital and print media, including on the group’s Facebook page. Recorded meetings are later made available on their SoundCloud station, and through their iTunes podcast, where already hundreds of visitors from around the world have accessed and listened to the content.

The latest partnership with QNL opens up wider opportunities for promoting dialogue among Arabic speaking intellectuals and the general public.  The Book Club has become a favorite gathering for Arabic literature fans, and has drawn participation from various universities within Education City as well as Qatar University, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, and Al Jazeera Network.