Pottermore releases Harry Potter audiobooks in Arabic via Storytel

Harry Potter fans in the Arab world are in for a big surprise this year as European audiobook firm Storytel is set to release the Arabic audio versions of the Harry Potter books.

According to a press release by Storytel, the Arabic audiobook debut was to come in the Cairo International Book Fair, which ran from 23 January until 5 February 2019.

Sweden-based Storytel, which has partnered with the Wizarding World™’s digital publisher Pottermore, said that the Arabic audio format is narrated by top voice-over artist Samaan Ferizali.

The Arabic audiobook of The Boy Who Lived will be offered exclusively via Storytel’s platform.

“The collaboration is expected to expand Storytel’s audience and bring the Harry Potter series to listeners in the Arab world,” Storytel said.

“We are very pleased with Ferizali’s work in this project. It took us several months of auditions and evaluations as well as a series of surveys among Harry Potter fans before we arrived at our final decision. Ferizali is doing a fantastic job in bringing over 150 characters to life in the series,” commented country manager for Storytel Arabia Ammar Mardawi.

He went on to say that the Harry Potter phenomenon has helped many people around the world become regular book consumers by captivating their imagination and emotions.

Storytel will begin with the first book in the series Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and will continue to release the remaining books throughout 2019.

“The debut of the Arabic audiobook version of Harry Potter is a major milestone for Storytel Arabia as it will introduce them to the audiobook experience for the first time. We are announcing the Arabic audiobooks of Harry Potter at the Cairo book fair because of the outstanding Harry Potter fan base among Egyptian young people,” Mardawi added.

Personally, I’ve been to this year’s Cairo Book Fair and haven’t seen any major announcements about the Arabic Harry Potter audiobooks but then again with the fair being relocated from its usual spot to an off-the-beaten-track location, I wasn’t searching for it. Besides, I’ve read all the books in the series in English. But I will try to pursue this and see what people think.

I have, however, read bits of Nahdet Misr Publishing’s translation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone a while back and was highly unimpressed. The translation is more of an abridged version. I’m not sure if there are other Arabic versions of the book and if so, which one Storytel would be using.

But I must say I agree with Mardawi that the Harry Potter books were a world of adventure for me that only brought about the bookworm hiding within.

Happy New Year & 2016 Resolutions!

Happy New Year to all family, friends, fans, writers, poets, bloggers, supporters. Happy New Year to all!

The year 2015 was an eventful year, and I welcome and embrace 2016 with open arms and an open heart. I plan to make some serious changes this year, to myself and my life, with God's help of course.

While I did not carry out most of the resolutions I had planned for 2015 (some because I am to blame and some circumstances were just out of my hand), 2016 is a new start and a new page, one in which I plan to make each day count.

I have new goals this year, and I'm setting smaller ones than I did in 2015. If I finish them all, then well and good, if not, then may be 2017 will see those goals accomplished.

The past couple of years have been hectic and full of downs and pressures. I feel I'm suffering a burn-out and need to slow down and rejuvenate. That's why I am taking some time in 2016 to work on self-development, as a person, a professional and as a writer. I am making 2016 MY Year.

Resolutions for 2016:

1.      Be happy and strive to be happy even when things aren't going too smooth.

2.     Read. Read. Read. – I love reading and 2015 has taken a decent chunk of my reading time away from me.

3.   Write. Write. Write. I plan to write every day in 2016, if not every day then I have a target of 365 pieces by the end of the year. If I skip a day's writing, the next day needs to have two pieces written. These may include chapters to stories or blog posts or anything I can come up with. I won't set a number of words, pieces can be 100 words or 1000 or anything below, above or in between. The goal is to write.

4.     Search for publication opportunities.

5.     Read at least 6 Arabic books (any format).

6.    Read at least 6 paperback/hardcover books (any language).

7.   Revise and study German (I plan to do this on my own for a time, until I'm ready to restart classes instead of starting from Zero).

8.     Continue with Takhayyal, book reviewing and focus more on the blog and making it better.

9.     Support other authors, writers, and students interested in writing. I had this plan in 2015 to read more blog posts and comment more. Although, I didn't do the great job I had in mind, I plan to keep it up this year and hopefully get in touch with more blogs and writing.
All writers need support, whether in being told that they're doing good, redirecting them, or telling them the ups and downs of their pieces. Commenting on a post or simply sharing it anywhere on social media is great help to writers.

10. Stay away from negativity and negative people. If you're one of those people who emit negative energy, don't be upset if I argue with you or leave you alone altogether. This is my life and I plan to make it a happy one.

11.   Market my blog and writing more and learn how to professionally market them. (So, if you have any tips or suggestions, please don't hesitate to leave them in the comments below or in a quick email! J )

12.  Keep on blogging. Guest posts and features are always welcome.

13.  While I plan to keep on with the book reviewing, I will not let it overwhelm me as it did in 2015 and in late 2014.

2016 is MY Year! I hope it will be a good one.

14.  Be happy J

I wish you all a Happy New Year. Make it YOUR Year and make every day, and every moment of it count. Stay positive, love always, be happy and seize the day! 
Carpe diem!

Nadaness news, updates & giveaways

I've wanted to do a sort of quarterly report on my reading progress and keep my readers/fans/friends updated on Takhayyal and other ongoing bits on the blog.

This week, I decided to make my Takhayyal prompts once every two weeks instead of weekly to give myself and others time to write.

Takhayyal Week 7 and Week 8 both got more responses when the prompt was extended. (updated note)

I'm feeling optimistic and excited about the prompt for week 8, which was posted last week. So starting that, prompts will be two weeks long.

As for my reading progress, I've crammed myself so much in March to the extent that it was hectic and tiresome for me. But luckily, my reads were amazing and made up for my mistakes.

Although I read or finished around four books in March, Goodreads has me at "One book behind" in my reading challenge for 2014.

I must say, I'm lagging behind on The Sham by Ellen Alan, which is very embarrassing. I signed up for several tours and these are bound by dates, so I had to put Ellen's book aside for a bit till I can meet my deadlines.

I also haven't started on my New Year's Resolution of reading Arabic books – again this because of book tours and review requests, all of which are in English.

Hopefully, I'll have more time to do my Arabic readings in May and June. (I don't think I'll have time in April, which is almost half way through).

I want to thank authors, who accept my delays and postponements in posting reviews. Recently, someone asked for a review and I told them I'm book till June – which is true – and they said they didn't mind. It really made me feel appreciated.

Here is a list of the reviews of books I read in March:

Seasons of Time by Miriam Khan

Bound by Spells by Stormy Smith

Just Pru by Anne Pfeffer

Insanity (Mad in Wonderland, book 1) by Cameron Jace

The Outcast Star by I.M. Tu

I recently announced a massive YA giveaway. Yesterday, I won two books from the giveaway! More on my to-read list but I just couldn't miss the opportunity.

I hope others have won what they wanted too.

I compiled a list of ongoing giveaways, while the massive YA one has ended, the others are still in progress, so hurry up and get a chance to win one or more of these amazing books. Check them out here.

Several of these giveaways are via my blog so you have a bigger chance of winning.

Having read 8 out of 36 books in my 2015 reading, I have so far covered 22% of my target, which I was hoping to take up a notch to 40 books – but that's for another time.

This week I started reading Sun Tzu's The Art of War. This is the first paperback I've held – to read - in almost a year (buying from bookshops and the book fair don't count as holding). It feels strange when you want to highlight something and you're afraid you'll spoil the book. I got used to highlighting and writing notes on my Kindle.

My upcoming reviews for April are: (in particular order)

The Sham by Ellen Alan

The Huntress by Nadja Losbohom

Family Secrets by Kat Nicols (less than a week before the giveaway for her book ends, check the above link)

I almost forgot!

In March, I hosted our first Poetry Recital for 2015 at Cairo University.

In April, I'll be moderating a seminar with scholar and translator Samah Selim also at Cairo University on Thursday, 16 April, 2015. The theme of the seminar is "Why We Translate: Some Notes on Love, Loss and Longing".

Wish me luck!

Check out the Facebook event here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/420375108123935/

I am also considering revamping the Book Reviews Page. It is currently divided according to the type of book, but I'm thinking of doing it in alphabetical order of book titles (or authors). What do you think?

The thing is, I review novels, novellas, short stories, poetry collections and anthologies, so I wanted to have things separate but I feel that it looks weird.

Feedback would be highly appreciated!

I'm doing another call for artists and photographers who might be interesting in sharing their work on my blog as part of the Takhayyal series. Rules can be found here.

There are several interviews in the pipeline. So stay tuned!

I'm not sure what else I wanted to add in this "quarterly" report. But that's all folks!

Great news & November recap

I have been withholding some good – awesome – news for a while now just until the release dates. It gives me great pleasure to announce that two of my poems have been published in two anthologies, both of which are coming out this month!

As some of you may have seen or read, my poem "Words" was published in Scripting Change's new anthology Beyond the Words. It is a small collection of short stories and poetry by various authors. All proceeds from the sale of the book go to charity organisations, with a focus this year on literacy.

Another poem titled "Remember" has been published in Pragrammer's poetry anthology by the same name. I believe it will available on Amazon and other outlets soon. It's a print-only edition, though.

Blog update: Another month has gone and I have succeeded in committing to my bi-weekly posts of Friday and Tuesday, with some additional bits and pieces here and there. I did fail to keep track of certain days and ended up doing my post on a Saturday and Wednesday in one week though – how embarrassing! Lack of sleep can do that.

In November, I took part in my second blog tour and my first with Xpresso Book Tours. I have officially taken part in several cover reveals, book blitzes and giveaways for them and I must say it's been a fun and enlightening experience that I intend to keep going.

I'm still lagging behind with my reading but what I promised will be done in 2014 shall be done as such - *fingers crossed*

I sadly did not finish all my intended reads for November, though whatever is lagging will come out in December or depending on my agreements with the authors.

I hope some - or all - of you have had the time to visit the blog and see the makeover. Let me know what you think!

Book reviews posted in November: 

Hand of Fire by Judith Starkston

Krymzyn by BC Powell

Strings by Darren Gallagher (a short story collection)

The Duality Principle by Rebecca Grace Allen (Blog Tour, 28 November)

I have decided not to disclose which books I'll be reviewing in December simply because there have been so many changes added to my lagging behind; so, I'll just have to surprise you as I go.

I'd also like to wish all my readers and friends a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays!