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The Ediciones del Oriente y del Mediterráneo publishing firm wins Casa Árabe’s “Friendship Award” for 2025
From February 19, 2026 until February 28, 2026
The jury highlighted the track record of the publishing house created in 1989, with over 37 years in business, during which time it has published prominent authors of Moroccan, Algerian, Palestinian, Lebanese and Egyptian literature translated into Spanish.
Casa Árabe announced the jury’s decision for the third edition of the “Friendship Award” today. Following the meeting for deliberations held in Madrid on February 17, the decision was reached to award this distinction to Ediciones del Oriente y del Mediterráneo, a publishing firm created in 1989 by Fernando García Burillo and Inmaculada Jiménez Morell ”in order to raise awareness about literature and societies on both sides of the Mediterranean Sea.”
The jury praised the firm’s outstanding work in promoting knowledge and disseminating Arab culture in Spain by translating and publishing important works by authors from the Middle East and North Africa, as well as renowned Spanish and European specialists in the field, in genres ranging from poetry and fiction to essays. Since 1989, the publishing house has made a sustained, rigorous effort which has made a significant contribution to strengthening mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue.
The publishing house, a family-owned business with 37 years of experience, has pioneered the publication of literature from the peripheries in Spanish, thus helping provide access to other realities through literary production in various languages.
Its catalogue includes poetry books, novels, essays, works on photography, cooking and graphic works by authors who are Arab by birth or origin, grouped into different collections (with names like Poetry, Letters, Memories of the Mediterranean, The Dove’s Necklace, Encounters, Societies, Cross-cutting, Correspondence, Journeys, DisEnso, Afro-American Library of Madrid, Tiles, Flavors and Stories).
It has published countless contemporary Arab authors, some as renowned as the Syrian poet Adonis, the Palestinian Mahmud Darwish, Mohammed Bennís, Murid Barguti, Dris Chraibi, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Yabra Ibrahím Yabra, Fatima Mernissi, Samira Khalil and Radwa Ashur. It has also published classics of Eastern literature, including the poems of Al Mutanabbi and the Rubayat of Rumi. Over the years, it has included big names in its catalogue, but it has also made room for new authors and Spanish scholars who study contemporary Arab societies, like Pedro Martínez Montávez, Ignacio Álvarez Ossorio, Luz Gómez, Laura Mijares and Ignacio Gutiérrez de Terán. And they have never overlooked the literatures of other regions, including Turkish, Greek, Iranian, Indian and Japanese works, to name a few.
As winners of the “Friendship” Award, in addition to the prestigious distinction, they will receive a sculpture made by well-known artist Rachid Koraïchi, an artist globally renowned for his works of sculpture, installations, ceramics and textiles. The award consists of a 28-centimeter tall figure made of Corten steel treated with a rust effect, placed on a turquoise rust-colored base bearing the sculptor’s signature, Casa Árabe’s logo and a space for engraving the name of the award-winner and award year. The full size of the piece is 35 x 21 x 4 cms.
The Casa Árabe “Friendship Award” was created with the purpose of recognizing work by individuals and entities, both public and private, and foreign or domestic, that have made an outstanding contribution to strengthening the bonds of coexistence, harmony and understanding between Arab and Spanish societies.
At this third edition, the jury included Casa Árabe’s General Director, Miguel Moro Aguilar, as its president, and six members from the fields of culture, language, education, economics and communication. They were as follows: Tamara El Khoury, a PhD in Constitutional Law and an associated professor at IE University; Rosa Meneses, a journalist and assistant director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CEARC); Leila Nachawati, a PhD in Communication and a professor at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; Javier Fonseca, from the School of Writers; Francisco Moreno, president of the Antonio Gala Foundation in Cordoba; and Pablo Delgado, the managing director of Strategic Gears Spain.
The jury praised the firm’s outstanding work in promoting knowledge and disseminating Arab culture in Spain by translating and publishing important works by authors from the Middle East and North Africa, as well as renowned Spanish and European specialists in the field, in genres ranging from poetry and fiction to essays. Since 1989, the publishing house has made a sustained, rigorous effort which has made a significant contribution to strengthening mutual understanding and intercultural dialogue.
The publishing house, a family-owned business with 37 years of experience, has pioneered the publication of literature from the peripheries in Spanish, thus helping provide access to other realities through literary production in various languages.
Its catalogue includes poetry books, novels, essays, works on photography, cooking and graphic works by authors who are Arab by birth or origin, grouped into different collections (with names like Poetry, Letters, Memories of the Mediterranean, The Dove’s Necklace, Encounters, Societies, Cross-cutting, Correspondence, Journeys, DisEnso, Afro-American Library of Madrid, Tiles, Flavors and Stories).
It has published countless contemporary Arab authors, some as renowned as the Syrian poet Adonis, the Palestinian Mahmud Darwish, Mohammed Bennís, Murid Barguti, Dris Chraibi, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Yabra Ibrahím Yabra, Fatima Mernissi, Samira Khalil and Radwa Ashur. It has also published classics of Eastern literature, including the poems of Al Mutanabbi and the Rubayat of Rumi. Over the years, it has included big names in its catalogue, but it has also made room for new authors and Spanish scholars who study contemporary Arab societies, like Pedro Martínez Montávez, Ignacio Álvarez Ossorio, Luz Gómez, Laura Mijares and Ignacio Gutiérrez de Terán. And they have never overlooked the literatures of other regions, including Turkish, Greek, Iranian, Indian and Japanese works, to name a few.
As winners of the “Friendship” Award, in addition to the prestigious distinction, they will receive a sculpture made by well-known artist Rachid Koraïchi, an artist globally renowned for his works of sculpture, installations, ceramics and textiles. The award consists of a 28-centimeter tall figure made of Corten steel treated with a rust effect, placed on a turquoise rust-colored base bearing the sculptor’s signature, Casa Árabe’s logo and a space for engraving the name of the award-winner and award year. The full size of the piece is 35 x 21 x 4 cms.
The Casa Árabe “Friendship Award” was created with the purpose of recognizing work by individuals and entities, both public and private, and foreign or domestic, that have made an outstanding contribution to strengthening the bonds of coexistence, harmony and understanding between Arab and Spanish societies.
At this third edition, the jury included Casa Árabe’s General Director, Miguel Moro Aguilar, as its president, and six members from the fields of culture, language, education, economics and communication. They were as follows: Tamara El Khoury, a PhD in Constitutional Law and an associated professor at IE University; Rosa Meneses, a journalist and assistant director of the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CEARC); Leila Nachawati, a PhD in Communication and a professor at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; Javier Fonseca, from the School of Writers; Francisco Moreno, president of the Antonio Gala Foundation in Cordoba; and Pablo Delgado, the managing director of Strategic Gears Spain.
