saqi books liberated from beirut

I've mentioned the wonderful publishing house/London bookshop Saqi Books in a few recent posts, and was pleased to see this nice article about them by Boyd Tonkin:

At a time when bombs, shells and missiles are wrecking so many lives, it may seem frivolous or callous to worry that they also menace books. Look at history, however, and you'll find that a contempt for human beings and a contempt for the culture that they fashion never stand too far apart. In Beirut, this week, some books that powerful but truly callous people in the West really ought to read have just about survived - so far. They are languishing in a warehouse in the pulverised south of the city used by Saqi Books.

Via rockslinga, who brings the happy news that some of "the books have been liberated by a courageous, unnamed individual who drove them out to Damascus"--and who has some stories & translations in their new anthology Qissat: Short Stories by Palestinian Women, one of the books that had been trapped in the warehouse. Qissat is one in a series of anthologies of short fiction from Lebanese, Iranian, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani women, respectively.

Saqi is also putting together a new publication to raise money for victims of the war in Lebanon. According to their website:

Saqi is publishing an anthology of writings and artwork called Lebanon, Lebanon - including Harold Pinter, John Berger, Mahmud Darwish, Margaret Drabble, John Berger and John le Carre - to raise money for Save the Children in Lebanon. It will be available from 28 September. Keep an eye on this site for further details.

Also, Kamila Shamsie has an excellent article on Saqi's origins and recent activities in the Guardian's book section this weekend (via Amitava Kumar).