Beginnings
Dar Ward set out in Damascus in [1996 or 1997] as a cultural venture, among long-established Syrian and Arab publishing houses with wide connections. It was a modest project, but it carried a firm will and an insistence that the cultural and intellectual aim would come first.
What we publish
We focus on literature from every part of the world: we translate it and present it in the best way we can. Alongside it we publish theatre, poetry and critical studies, and bold testimonies of our time.
How we choose
We choose a book for its quality, its international standing and the worth of its author, then look for a translator who truly knows its original language: English, French, Spanish and others. Profit was never our priority; giving the book its finest form was.
Who we have published
From world literature — some of these writers visited Syria at the house’s invitation:
And with them:
From Arabic literature:
And we translated great epics: Dante’s Divine Comedy and the Mahabharata.
Don Quixote
We published the finest complete Arabic edition of Cervantes’ Don Quixote de la Mancha, in collaboration with the Spanish Ministry of Culture and with its funding.
Translated from the Spanish by Rifaat Atfeh.
The bookThe reader is the judge
The highest testimony to the house has always been the reader’s, together with the recognition of Arab intellectuals for the depth of its project. The house has been present at the book fairs of Arab capitals, and has caught the attention of the cultural elite and of serious readers.
Where next
A project built on enlightenment through knowledge, going on to be a garden and a spring for contemporary Arab culture.