In brief: Yasmine Zahran was a prominent Palestinian archaeologist, historian and novelist, who published a number of books through Max Scott. Towards the end of her life, Scott stopped responding to Zahran’s emails and requests for sales accounts. After her death he continued to sell her works, and announced the republication of her last book, without informing her family. Alarmed at discovering that Scott had exploited other writers from the Middle East, the family demanded of him to stop selling their sister’s works and for him to hand over her digital manuscripts so they could print her books locally with a different publisher. He claims to no longer have any of them. 

Yasmine Zahran’s experience in the words of her brother Zahran Jaghab: 

My sister Yasmine Zahran was a prominent Palestinian archaeologist, historian, and novelist whose work spanned historical biographies, archaeology and fiction. She earned a PhD in archaeology from the Sorbonne and had many contributions to both academic research and fiction. Her career included significant roles at UNESCO and the Institute of Islamic Archaeology in Jerusalem. Her books are a vital part of Palestinian and Arab cultural heritage, which we are working to protect through the Yasmine Zahran Library in Ramallah, Palestine.

In the last few years of her life, I was heartbroken to learn from her of the exploitative treatment that she had endured at the hands of her UK-based publisher, Max Scott of Gilgamesh Publishing at the time, including him neglecting to respond to her emails about the publication of her final book and overdue royalty payments.  More recently it was upsetting to find out that, since Yasmine’s passing in 2017, Max Scott continued to sell her works and had in fact posthumously published her last book, all without ever bothering to inform her family in Ramallah, who happen to be her sole inheritors.

After communicating with him to request clarifications, Max Scott delivered to me what were, in my opinion, dishonest answers that ignored any wrongdoing on his part and continually implied that he was somehow more concerned about Yasmine’s legacy than her own family. The more we inquired about Max Scott, the more we realized that he had a long record of mistreating authors based in the Middle East and the more we were convinced that we had to remove Yasmine’s work from him.

It took several months before we made him stop selling her work, and not before he had ‘republished’ her last book even after our written request for him not to do so. He then claimed that he had destroyed all remaining copies of her books in his possession and blamed me for destroying my sister’s literary legacy.

I finally asked him to deliver to us any digital files that he had of Yasmine’s book manuscripts so we could publish and print them locally in Palestine but he has refused to do so. He claims to no longer have any of these files, not even of the book that he had just republished. Paradoxically he still maintains, that in the event that I would come to realize my error and come back to ask him to once again publish Yasmine’s work, that he would somehow reestablish her literary legacy despite this lack of digital files!  

Max Scott’s actions prevent both myself and the Yasmine Zahran Historical Library and Museum from republishing Yasmine’s writings - an essential part of Palestinian cultural heritage that should be preserved and made accessible for future generations.

----------

Please refer to previous updates on the petition, see below, for details of other reports of publishing misconduct by Max Scott or visit the Defend Middle East Authors’ Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61569955141326