We are an independent publisher in Berkeley, California, and have been around since the early '70s when my wife and I founded the press in Vermont, moving it to California in 1977. We publish 60 new titles a year and have 1000 in print and 20 employees. Although our main lines have been alternative > medicine, internal martial arts, and similar things, we have published widely over a diverse spectrum and have, for instance, the #1 selling children's book in the country at the moment and a high-school slang dictionary on regional bestseller lists (see our website at www.northatlanticbooks.com).

Last year we began to put together a politically and culturally oriented series called Terra Nova. The format is tiny: books under $10 (for the most part), 5 x 7, 80-120 pages (with generally 30-35 manuscript pages making up an 80-page book). The political part of it now has four titles: two on Israel-Palestine (one of those is Michael Lerner's book on the Geneva Accord), a People's Democratic Platform, and the full translated text of Regis Debray's polemic on the American "empire."

In looking to expand this series and to contribute to the present evolving political dialogue around Israel-Palestine, Iraq, and the "war on terror," we have developed a few interesting ideas for little books of this sort. However, we need help. In one instance, we want to explore al-Qaeda's communiques in order to discriminate their political content from the evangelical rhetoric that has sprung up around the group, not to legitimize them, but to broaden the discussion of options in the US. I realize that most of this material is imbedded in other books and articles, but we feel that a small, direct book would have a unique impact and reach a different and, potentially, a larger audience.

In any case, we need help. For such a book, we are looking for someone who can read Arabic and has interest in and knows how to get access to al-Qaeda's representation of itself. We would compensate the author, either in the form of direct payment for work or royalties, or both, depending on the preferred arrangement. It may be that this is not, in itself, a viable idea. That does not mean that there might not be other ideas worth pursuing. We have some political preferences but generally are open to intelligent, significant discussion across a wide spectrum of points of view.

The advantage of this format is that it is quick, inexpensive, and aesthetically conducive to the topics under discussion. If people associated with your group have ideas (noting that 30-35 pages of text can make a small book and up to 55 pages is still viable), we would be interested in entertaining their ideas. I am not sure of what the appropriate means of solicitation and spreading the word would be. Perhaps you have some sort of a bulletin board on which you could put my request. If necessary, I could provide something more specific.

My work email is chard@northatlanticbooks.com, and
My work phone is 510-559-8277, extension 11.
Sincerely,
Richard Grossinger
Publisher, North Atlantic Books