Arada Books si propone di valorizzare il patrimonio storico e culturale dell’Etiopia e tutto ciò che lega l’Etiopia al resto del mondo. The history of Arada Books is mostly a history of love and fascination. Almost all the foreigners that visit or even live in Ethiopia are captivated by the particular charm of the country’s culture, history and people. But just a few of them are then able to tra
nsform the first impact’s suggestion into something else, but this is the case indeed of the founders of Arada Books who, during their residence in the country, took the initiative to fund in 2004 a publishing house, targeted to enhance the availability of high quality publications about the Ethiopian cultural heritage, in a wide and comprehensive sense, approaching it in three major sections: Travel Guides; Language and Literature; History. In 2014 Arada books has been very proud to celebrate its ten years of activity with an important issue: the Vocabolario Italiano-Amarico, a work at the same time practical and of high academic level, the result of an accurate effort by two scholars belonging to the two languages. The dictionary is an indispensable tool to communicate in the shape that the two languages have taken in the contemporary world. Arada has maintained in all its publications the same care and quality: its guidebooks to the most important landmarks of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, Aksum and Yeha, Lalibela, Gondar and Lake Tana, The Rock Hewn Churces of Tigray and Harar, are based on extensive research, on site survey and are accompanied by pictures, maps and plans. Arada’s English translation of the splendid The Negus is a work by the official translator of the author, Angelo Del Boca; he and David W.Phillipson, who signs Ancient Churches of Ethiopia, are both eminent scholars. Not to mention Richard Pankhurst and the brilliant illustrator Eric Robson, authors of one of Arada best-sellers, a complete idea of the whole Ethiopian history in less than 70 pleasant pages. With the same attention Arada has issued a photographic book edited by Paolo Cartocci, Ethiopia 1966, People and Portraits, a great photographic testimonial, as well as the surprising comedies of Menghistu Lemma, the tale of Finn Finn, a little book for children, the Grammar of the Gumuz language, a book of poems written by the most important Konso intellectual, and a survey on the cultural heritage of the Konso people, edited by the anthropologist Enrico Castelli. All the staff of Arada Books Publishing thanks its readers for their attention during these past 10 years and goes on to realize its quality and meaningful work.
