Potterheads in the Middle East, get your headphones ready — Pottermore Publishing will release audiobooks of Harry Potter in Arabic this spring, as narrated by Syrian voice artist Samaan Ferizali.
The first book, ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’, will be available exclusively on the e-book and audiobook platform Storytel this spring, with the remaining six books releasing throughout 2019.
The audiobooks debuted at Cairo International Book Fair. Ammar Mardawi, the country manager of Storytel Arabia, said launching the series there made sense due to the “outstanding Harry Potter fan base among Egyptian young people.”
“Harry Potter is a unique global phenomenon which helped many people around the world to become regular book consumers by captivating their imagination and emotions,” said Mardawi.
He also praised narrator Ferizali, who has been in the voice acting industry for 15 years, working across books, dubbing and documentaries.
“It took us several months of auditions and evaluations as well as series of surveys among Harry Potter fans before we arrived at our final decision. Ferizali is doing a fantastic job in bringing over 150 characters to life in the series,” Mardawi said.
The Cairo International Book Fair kicked off on January 23 and runs until February 2.
