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      • Award Publications Ltd.

        Award Publications is an award-winning independent children’s publisher, producing exciting, creative and best-selling books for children from birth to 12 in more than 70 countries around the world since 1972. From picture books to board books, junior learning to activity, gift to reference, our aim is to bring joy, and to encourage, entertain and inspire children, and those who read with them, to build a life-long love of books and reading

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      • Trusted Partner

        Sheikh Zayed Book Award

        The SZBA is presented to writers, intellectuals and publishers whose writings and translations of humanities have enriched Arab cultural, literary and social life.

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      • Trusted Partner
        Children's & YA
        January 2011

        The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air

        by Abdo Wazen

        In his first YA novel, cultural journalist and author Abdo Wazen writes about a blind teenager in Lebanon who finds strength and friendship among an unlikely group.   Growing up in a small Lebanese village, Bassim’s blindness limits his engagement with the materials taught in his schools. Despite his family’s love and support, his opportunities seem limited.   So at thirteen years old, Bassim leaves his village to join the Institute for the Blind in a Beirut suburb. There, he comes alive. He learns Braille and discovers talents he didn’t know he had. Bassim is empowered by his newfound abilities to read and write.   Thanks to his newly developed self-confidence, Bassim decides to take a risk and submit a short story to a competition sponsored by the Ministry of Education. After winning the competition, he is hired to work at the Institute for the Blind.   At the Institute, Bassim, a Sunni Muslim, forms a strong friendship with George, a Christian. Cooperation and collective support are central to the success of each student at the Institute, a principle that overcomes religious differences. In the book, the Institute comes to symbolize the positive changes that tolerance can bring to the country and society at large.   The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is also a book about Lebanon and its treatment of people with disabilities. It offers insight into the vital role of strong family support in individual success, the internal functioning of institutions like the Institute, as well as the unique religious and cultural environment of Beirut.   Wazen’s lucid language and the linear structure he employs result in a coherent and easy-to-read narrative. The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air is an important contribution to a literature in which people with disabilities are underrepresented. In addition to offering a story of empowerment and friendship, this book also aims to educate readers about people with disabilities and shed light on the indispensable roles played by institutions like the Institute.

      • Trusted Partner
        Personal & social issues: body & health (Children's/YA)
        2017

        I See That

        by Art studio Agrafka

        This is an educational picture book about sight from the creative studio Agrafka. It is about both things we can see with our own eyes and the mysterious, invisible to the human eye. This book is also about microscopes and telescopes that help us see incredibly small or extremely distant things. It explains that for better eyesight some people need glasses, while those who can’t see at all need a special system and symbols. By reading this book, you will learn how birds and animals see the world, how artists create optical illusions, and about the many millions of hues the human eye can perceive. I See That won the 2018 Bologna Ragazzi Award, the most prestigious award in children’s literature, in the award’s non-fiction category. I See That has been awarded with a Bronze Medal Stiftung Buchkunst in 2019.

      • Trusted Partner
        September 2020

        Cartoon Nobel Scientist: Physics Prize

        by Pang Le

        The Nobel Prize is generally regarded as the most important award in all award fields worldwide. The Nobel Prize has led mankind to science and the future. The content of this book relates to how the Nobel Prize in Science was selected? How did the Nobel Prize and a group of brilliant geniuses affect the world? Are there competitions, contradictions and conflicts among scientists who have won the Nobel Prize? The author combined original two-dimensional cartoons and relaxed language to show the nature of the research work of world-class scientists such as Einstein and Fermi from the perspective of popular science. He has made significant contributions in changing our world. His and personal experience, the main problems encountered, and his exploration and critical spirit. This book combines legends, stories, theoretical analysis, scientific history, etc., and takes you to the most coveted and persuasive awards of this era-those little-known winners of Nobel Prizes and outstanding geniuses thing.

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        The Arts
        June 2011

        From Perversion to Purity

        The stardom of Catherine Deneuve

        by Lisa Downing, Sue Harris, author arranging

        Catherine Deneuve is indisputably one of the world's most celebrated actresses, both in her native France and throughout the world. Her career has spanned five decades during which she has worked with the most significant of French auteurs, as well as forging partnerships with international directors such as Buñuel and Polanski. The Deneuve star persona has attained such iconic status that it now symbolises the very essence of French womanhood and civic identity. In this wide-ranging and authoritative collection of essays by a selection of international film academics and writers, the Deneuve persona is scrutinised and illuminated. Beyond the glamorous iconographic status of Yves Saint Laurent's muse, and the epitome of sexual inviolability, Deneuve's status as actress is foregrounded. The book will be essential reading for students and lecturers in star studies. ;

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2021

        Disciplined agency

        Neoliberal precarity, generational dispossession and call centre labour in Portugal

        by Patrícia Alves de Matos

        Since the mid-2000s, the harsh reality of call centre employment for a generation of young workers in Portugal has been impossible to ignore. With its endless rows of small cubicles, where human agents endure repetitive telephone conversations with abusive clients under invasive modes of technological surveillance, discipline and control, call centre work remains a striking symbol of labour precarity, a condition particularly associated with the neoliberal generational disenchantment that 'each generation does better than its predecessor'. This book describes the emergence of a regime of disciplined agency in the Portuguese call centre sector. Examining the ascendancy of call centres as icons of precarity in contemporary Portugal, this book argues that call centre labour constitutes a new form of commodification of the labouring subject. De Matos argues that call centres represent an advanced system of non-manual labour power exploitation, due to the underestimation of human creativity that lies at the centre of the regimented structures of call centre labour. Call centres can only guarantee profit maintenance, de Matos argues, through the commodification of the human agency arising from the operators' moral, relational and social embedded agentive linguistic interventions of creative improvisation, decision-making, problem-solving and ethical evaluation.

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        Psychology
        April 2018

        What is “Good” Dementia Care?

        by Christoph Held

        People with dementia experience their condition as a big change in which, for example, new events are not linked to existing experiences and wishes, thoughts, and actions can no longer be connected to each other. This kind of experience of the self, due to the intergative function of the brainbeing temporarily or permanently lost, is called dissociative self-experience. Based on this understanding of dementia, the author develops an approach to effectively understand and support people with dementia in everyday activities. Typical everyday situations and behaviours are presented and reflected on in a practical context.

      • Trusted Partner
        Children's & YA
        January 2015

        Hatless

        by Lateefa Buti / Illustrated by Doha Al Khteeb

        Kuwaiti children’s book author Lateefa Buti’s well-crafted and beautifully illustrated children’s book, Hatless, encourages children (ages 6-9) to think independently and challenge rigid traditions and fixed rituals with innovation and creativity.   The main character is a young girl named Hatless who lives in the City of Hats. Here, all of the people are born with hats that cover their heads and faces. The world inside of their hats is dark, silent, and odorless.   Hatless feels trapped underneath her own hat. She wants to take off her hat, but she is afraid, until she realizes that whatever frightening things exist in the world around her are there whether or not she takes off her hat to see them.   So Hatless removes her hat.    As Hatless takes in the beauty of her surroundings, she cannot help but talk about what she sees, hears, and smells. The other inhabitants of the city ostracize her because she has become different from them. It is not long before they ask her to leave the City of Hats.   Rather than giving up or getting angry, Hatless feels sad for her friends and neighbors who are afraid to experience the world outside of their hats. She comes up with an ingenious solution: if given another chance, she will wear a hat as long it is one she makes herself. The people of the City of Hats agree, so Hatless weaves a hat that covers her head and face but does not prevent her from seeing the outside world. She offers to loan the hat to the other inhabitants of the city. One by one, they try it on and are enchanted by the beautiful world around them. Since then, no child has been born wearing a hat. The people celebrate by tossing their old hats in the air.   By bravely embracing these values, Hatless improves her own life and the lives of her fellow citizens.     Buti’s language is eloquent and clear. She strikes a skilled narrative balance between revealing Hatless’s inner thoughts and letting the story unfold through her interactions with other characters. Careful descriptions are accompanied by beautiful illustrations that reward multiple readings of the book.

      • Trusted Partner
        Memoirs
        2018

        The light of People

        by Vasyl Ovsiyenko

        A former prisoner of conscience who was imprisoned for nearly 14 years presents fifty articles he has written during 20 years of freedom. They tell about his cellmates Vasyl Stus, Yuri Lytvyn, Oleksa Tykhyi, Valeriy Marchenko, Levko Lukianenko, about prisoners of conscience Oksana Meshko, Mykola Rudenko, Petro Hryhorenko, Ievhen Sverstiuk and other outstanding personalities.

      • Trusted Partner
        Fiction
        August 2012

        To Live

        by YU Hua

        An award-winning, internationally acclaimed Chinese bestseller, originally banned in China but recently named one of the last decade's ten most influential books there, To Live tells the epic story of one man's transformation from the spoiled son of a rich landlord to an honorable and kindhearted peasant. After squandering his family's fortune in gambling dens and brothels, the young, deeply penitent Fugui settles down to do the honest work of a farmer. Forced by the Nationalist Army to leave behind his family, he witnesses the horrors and privations of the Civil War, only to return years later to face a string of hardships brought on by the ravages of the Cultural Revolution. Left with an ox as the companion of his final years, Fugui stands as a model of flinty authenticity, buoyed by his appreciation for life in this narrative of humbling power.

      • Trusted Partner
        Fiction
        April 2016

        Bronze and Sunflower

        by Cao Wenxuan

        A beautifully written, timeless tale by bestselling author, Cao Wenxuan, the 2016 recipient of the prestigious Hans Christian Andersen Award.   When Sunflower, a young city girl, moves to the countryside, she grows to love the reed marsh lands - the endlessly flowing river, the friendly buffalo with their strong backs and shiny round heads, the sky that stretches on and on in its vastness. However, the days are long, and the little girl is lonely. Then she meets Bronze, who, unable to speak, is ostracized by the other village boys. Soon the pair are inseparable, and when Bronze's family agree to take Sunflower in, it seems that fate has brought him the sister he has always longed for. But life in Damaidi is hard, and Bronze's family can barely afford to feed themselves. Will the city girl be able to stay in this place where she has finally found happiness?   A classic, heartwarming tale set to the backdrop of the Chinese cultural revolution.

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        Picture books

        The Lilac Girl

        by Ibtisam Barakat (author), Sinan Hallak (illustrator)

        Inspired by the life story of Palestinian artist, Tamam Al-Akhal, The Lilac Girl is the sixth book for younger readers by award-winning author, Ibtisam Barakat.   The Lilac Girl is a beautifully illustrated short story relating the departure of Palestinian artist and educator, Tamam Al-Akhal, from her homeland, Jaffa. It portrays Tamam as a young girl who dreams about returning to her home, which she has been away from for 70 years, since the Palestinian exodus. Tamam discovers that she is talented in drawing, so she uses her imagination to draw her house in her mind. She decides one night to visit it, only to find another girl there, who won’t allow her inside and shuts the door in her face. Engulfed in sadness, Tamam sits outside and starts drawing her house on a piece of paper. As she does so, she notices that the colors of her house have escaped and followed her; the girl attempts to return the colors but in vain. Soon the house becomes pale and dull, like the nondescript hues of bare trees in the winter. Upon Tamam’s departure, she leaves the entire place drenched in the color of lilac.   As a children’s story, The Lilac Girl works on multiple levels, educating with its heart-rending narrative but without preaching, accurately expressing the way Palestinians must have felt by not being allowed to return to their homeland. As the story’s central character, Tamam succeeds on certain levels in defeating the occupying forces and intruders through her yearning, which is made manifest through the power of imaginary artistic expression. In her mind she draws and paints a picture of hope, with colors escaping the physical realm of her former family abode, showing that they belong, not to the invaders, but the rightful occupiers of that dwelling. Far from being the only person to have lost their home and endured tremendous suffering, Tamam’s plight is representative of millions of people both then and now, emphasizing the notion that memories of our homeland live with us for eternity, no matter how far we are from them in a physical sense. The yearning to return home never subsides, never lessens with the passing of time but, with artistic expression, it is possible to find freedom and create beauty out of pain.

      • Trusted Partner
        January 2013

        The Madmen of Bethlehem

        by Osama Alaysa

        Adopting the story-within-a-story structure of Arabian Nights, author Osama Alaysa weaves together a collection of stories portraying centuries of oppression endured by the Palestinian people.   This remarkable novel eloquently brings together fictional characters alongside real-life historical figures in a complex portrayal of Bethlehem and the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in the West Bank. The common thread connecting each tale is madness, in all its manifestations.   Psychological madness, in the sense of clinical mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, finds expression alongside acts of social and political madness. Together, these accounts of individuals and communities provide a gateway into the histories of the city of Bethlehem and Palestine. They paint a picture of the centuries of political oppression that the Palestinian people have endured, from the days of the Ottoman Empire to the years following the Oslo Accords, and all the way to 2012 (when the novel was written).   The novel is divided into three sections, each containing multiple narratives. The first section, “The Book of a Genesis,” describes the physical spaces and origins of Bethlehem and Dheisheh Refugee Camp. These stories span the 19th and 20th centuries, transitioning smoothly from one tale to another to offer an intricate interpretation of the identity of these places.   The second section, “The Book of the People Without a Book”, follows parallel narratives of the lives of the patients in a psychiatric hospital in Bethlehem, the mad men and women roaming the streets of the city, and those imprisoned by the Israeli authorities. All suffer abuse, but they also reaffirm their humanity through the relationships, romantic and otherwise, that they form.   The third and final section, “An Ephemeral Book,” follows individuals—Palestinian and non-Palestinian—who are afflicted by madness following the Oslo Accords in 1993. These stories give voice to the perspectives of the long-marginalized Palestinian population, narrating the loss of land and the accompanying loss of sanity in the decades of despair and violence that followed the Nakba, the 1948 eviction of some 700,000 Palestinians from their homes.   The novel’s mad characters—politicians, presidents, doctors, intellectuals, ordinary people and, yes, Dheisheh and Bethlehem themselves—burst out of their narrative threads, flowing from one story into the next. Alaysa’s crisp, lucid prose and deft storytelling chart a clear path through the chaos with dark humor and wit. The result is an important contribution to fiction on the Palestinian crisis that approaches the Palestinians, madness, and Palestinian spaces with compassion and depth.

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        Children's & YA

        Different Spring Festival

        by Gao Jing

        The story happens in an ordinary Chinese family. It features the extraordinary scene of the Chinese Lunar New Year in 2020 under the sudden attack of the COVID-19 pandemic, answering the question asked by the little protagonist, "Why can't we hang out?" The book is both informative and humanistic, for it not only incorporates COVID-19 pevention knowledge into the story, such as what the novel coronavirus is, how it spreads, and what control and prevention measures should be implemented to fight against it, but also touches readers' heart by demonstrating family affection, friendship, and true love among people with elegant watercolor images. It guides children and even their parents to develop a sense of cherish and respect for the ordinary lives.

      • Trusted Partner
        Science & Mathematics
        February 2017

        Seed Biology and Yield of Grain Crops

        by Dennis B Egli

        This new edition of an established title examines the determination of grain crop yield from a unique perspective, by concentrating on the influence of the seed itself. As the food supply for an expanding world population is based on grain crops harvested for their seeds, understanding the process of seed growth and its regulation is crucial to our efforts to increase production and meet the needs of that population. Yield of grain crops is determined by their assimilatory processes such as photosynthesis and the biosynthetic processes in the seed, which are partly regulated within the seed itself. Providing a timely update in this field and highlighting the impact of the seed on grain crop yields, this book: · Describes all aspects of seed growth and development, including environmental and genetic effects on growth rate and length of the filling period. · Discusses the role of the seed in determining the two main yield components: individual seed weight and number of seeds per unit area. · Uses the concepts and models that have been developed to understand crop management and yield improvement. Substantially updated with new research and further developments of the practical applications of the concepts explored, this book is essential reading for those concerned with seed science and crop yield, including agronomists, crop physiologists, plant breeders, and extension workers. It is also a valuable source of information for lecturers and graduate students of agronomy and plant physiology. ; This is a new edition of an established title examines the determination of grain crop yield from a unique perspective, by concentrating on the influence of the seed itself. ; Chapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2: Seed Growth and DevelopmentChapter 3: Seed Growth Rate and Seed-Fill Duration: Variation and Regulation.Chapter 4: Yield Components-Regulation by the Seed Chapter 5: The Seed, Crop Management, and YieldChapter 6: The Way Forward

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 2007

        Martha Gellhorn: The war writer in the field and in the text

        by Kate McLoughlin, Martin Hargreaves

        Martha Gellhorn was the doyenne of twentieth century war correspondence. Opinionated, honest and unafraid, she covered conflicts from the Spanish Civil War to Reagan's wars in Central America in the 1980s. Martha Gellhorn: the war writer in the field and in the text is the first critical study of her Second World War fiction and journalism. Often overlooked in accounts of war literature is the writer's precise position in relation to battle and his or her resultant standing in the text. Kate McLoughlin traces Gellhorn's daring attempts to access the war zone and her constructions of the woman war correspondent in her despatches, novels, short stories and play. Drawing on unpublished letters, close attention is given to Gellhorn's rivalry with Ernest Hemingway (the two were married from 1940 to 1945) over reaching the Normandy beaches on D-Day and its textual outcome in the pages of Collier's magazine. McLoughlin goes on to examine Gellhorn's increasingly negative portrayals of the glamorous female war reporter and to suggests why such disillusionment might have set in. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Fiction
        2017

        Remorse Test

        by Khalil Sweileh

        Remorse Test is Sweileh’s follow up to his novel Writing Love, which was the 2009 winner of The Mahfouz Medal for Literature. This semi-autobiographical novel, takes readers through the streets of Damascus and offers a first-hand look at life and loss during the Syrian civil war. The protagonist is a brilliant writer who is navigating a new, war-torn reality. While reminiscing about his past, he shows us what everyday life is like in Damascus—at once brutal and boring—and laments the missed opportunities and destruction the conflict has caused in his country. Drawing on his experience as a journalist, poet and novelist, author Khalil Sweileh writes about the psychological conflicts amid the shattered reality of place and society using language that is full of imagery. Remorse Test is an important addition to Syrian literature, both for its subject matter and unique use of narrative tools and vocabulary. (An extended English-language report on this book will be available soon.)

      • Trusted Partner
        Geography & the Environment
        November 2013

        1 Angel Square

        The Co-operative Group's new head office

        by Len Grant

        This book charts the building of 1 Angel Square, the remarkable new head office for The Co-operative Group in Manchester's new NOMA district. Combining text and photographs to illustrate the building from commissioning to completion, Len Grant has interviewed the whole project team - clients, architects, engineers, project managers and builders - and has had unreserved access to document the creation of this already award-winning structure. The design of 1 Angel Square by the architects 3DReid, is currently the UK's highest BREEAM (Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method) rated office building to date, and it is set to be one of the most sustainable buildings in Europe. 1 Angel Square, the book, is an intimate record of this fascinating building. Some of the impressive facts include: 3,157 internal and external window panels make up the façade; there are 10,500 data and power outlets; it sits on 539 foundation piles, with an average depth of 18 metres below ground; and there are approximately 22km of power cables. This book will be required reading for students of architecture and construction, sustainability studies and urban planning, and for those with an interest in the history of one of the world's great businesses. ;

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        Fiction
        January 2016

        The Autumn of Innocence

        by Abbas Beydoun

        In his novel, The Autumn of Innocence, prominent Lebanese poet and novelist Abbas Beydoun artfully weaves a tragic story of a father-son relationship that ends disastrously with the son's violent death. This story unfolds along with the Arab Spring movement and explores the motivations behind religious extremism and questions cultural constructs of masculinity.   The novel opens with a letter from Ghassan to his cousin, describing how his father Massoud strangled his mother to death when Ghassan was just three years old. Afterward, Massoud flees the village in southern Lebanon. For 18 years, no one hears from him, and Ghassan grows up stigmatized by his father's violent crime.   In time, Ghassan's aunt Bushra-Massoud's sister-makes a confession: She encouraged Massoud to kill his wife, believing that his wife's low socioeconomic status would bring embarrassment to their wealthy family. Bushra also reveals that Massoud was driven to kill his wife because he feared that she would tell someone that he was impotent, undermining his sense of manhood and social status.   Meanwhile, Massoud has moved to southern Syria, where he remarried and had two more sons. During the Arab Spring, the militant groups fighting the Syrian regime transform him into a religious extremist.   In the second half of the novel, Massoud return to the village in southern Lebanon. He brings with him a group of men. Together they seize control of the village and terrorize its inhabitants. After killing the dogs, they begin murdering the villagers in the name of religion. One of Ghassan's friends is among the victims, and Massoud also threatens his family. Ghassan decides that he must kill his father, avenging the death of his friend and the deaths of the other villagers. In the end, he fails and is beheaded by Bushra's son, his cousin, who is has joined Massoud's thugs.   Beydoun captures the shifting points of view in a family shattered by the tyranny of normative masculinity and the resulting violence. The victims are women, of course, but also the men like Ghassan who reject these social and cultural expectations. The novel also portrays the rise of religious extremism and the terrorism it can inspire, which wreaks havoc on the lives of ordinary people. Beydoun's engaging language imbues the characters and the places they inhabit with a vibrancy and vitality that transcends the difficult subject matter.

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