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Banipal, founded in 1998, takes its name from Ashurbanipal, last great king of Assyria and patron of the ar ts, whose outstanding achievement was to assemble in Nineveh, from all over his empire, the first systematically organised library in the ancient Middle East. The thousands of clay tablets of Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian writings included the famous Mesopotamian epics of the Creation, the Flood, and Gilgamesh, many folk tales, fables, proverbs, prayers and omen texts. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica
PUBLISHER: Margaret Obank EDITOR: Samuel Shimon FRONT COVER PAINTING BY FAISEL LAIBI SAHI HTTP://FAISELLAIBI.COM/ CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Fadhil al-Azzawi, Issa J Boullata, Peter Clark, Raphael Cohen, Bassam Frangieh, Camilo Gómez-Rivas, Marilyn Hacker, William M Hutchins, Imad Khachan, Khaled Mattawa, Anton Shammas, Paul Starkey, Mona Zaki CONSULTING EDITORS Etel Adnan, Roger Allen, Mohammed Bennis, Isabella Camera d’Afflitto, Humphrey Davies, Hartmut Fähndrich, Gamal al-Ghitani, Herbert Mason, Hassan Najmi, Saif al-Rahbi, Naomi Shihab Nye, Yasir Suleiman, Susannah Tarbush, Stephen Watts EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS: Maureen O’Rourke, Laura Ferreri, Annamaria Bianco, Marco Fasulo, Aurora Tellenbach LAYOUT: Banipal Publishing CONTACTS: TEL: +44 (0)20 7832 1350 WEBSITE: www.banipal.co.uk EDITOR: editor@banipal.co.uk PUBLISHER: margaret@banipal.co.uk INQUIRIES: info@banipal.co.uk SUBSCRIPTIONS: subscribe@banipal.co.uk ADDRESS: 1 Gough Square, London EC4A 3DE PRINTED BY Short Run Press Ltd Bittern Road, Sowton Ind. Est. EXETER EX2 7LW Photographs not accredited have been donated, photographers unknown. Copyright: Banipal 53 – The Short Stories of Zakaria Tamer This selection © Banipal Publishing. All rights reserved. This issue is ISBN 978-0-9574424-5-0. RRP £7, €10, $15 No reproduction or copy, in whole or in part, in the print or the digital edition, may be made without the written permission of the publisher. BANIPAL, ISSN 1461-5363, is published three times a year by Banipal Publishing, 1 Gough Square, London EC4A 3DE
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