Kalima to publish memoirs of Chirac in Arabic

Kalima, the translation project of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach), won the rights to publish the memoirs of former French President Jacques Chirac in Arabic.

The first volume of his memoirs Every Step Must be a Goal, from the French title Chaque pas doit etre un but : Memoires Tome I, covers the first 63 years of his life, from being born in 1932 up to the moment he became president in 1995.

The book scans over the important landmarks of Chirac's early political life, especially the time when he twice became the prime minister under Presidents Giscard d'Estaing and Francois Mitterrand.

Kalima said in a statement the translation of such an important book will be a contribution towards a better understanding between the Arab World and the West, and another bridge between the cultures.

It said: "To obtain the rights to publish this book in Arabic is yet another indication of the prestigious position which the project has managed to obtain in the publishing world.

"Chirac's memoirs come at the right time. His popularity in France is still high two years after he left French presidency, with his book selling more than 200,000 copies."

Meanwhile, Kalima published an Arabic translation of Jeremiah Curtin's A Journey in Southern Siberia: The Mongols; Their Religion and Their Myths. The book is the result of years-long efforts of research and travel through frozen desert with a focus on the Mongols.

Curtin, a linguist, translator, writer, diplomat, adventurer, expert in world folklore and anthropologist, goes beyond the stereotype image of the Mongols to present people with norms, spiritualities and thoughts. He traces their ruins through their modern-day geographical spreading and through what is left of their civilisation, stories and myths, and the way they live today.

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