About Us

RAYA agency was born in 2004 out of the desire to bring more Arabic voices and stories to the world. The simple idea was that if more people read Arabic literature in translation, that many people would perhaps have a better understanding of a rich, complex, and diverse region.

Yasmina Jraissati, who created the agency, remains the only agent at RAYA. She works with an extended and strong network of co-agents.

Together with its partners, RAYA has succeeded in selling books in over twenty languages, and in placing authors in high quality homes that fit their profiles. Several authors on RAYA’s list have won, or have been shortlisted to international prizes and literary awards.

Yasmina herself was shortlisted twice to the London Book Fair Excellence Awards, in the literary agent category. In 2023, she received the Sharjah Rights Connection Award, in the individual agents category, from the Sharjah International Book Fair. Her work was praised for “boosting cross-cultural literature and diversifying publishing”.

Yasmina is often asked how she selects the books she wishes to represent. There is no clear answer to this question. Yet, Yasmina agrees with Crastaing (a French teacher in Daniel Pennac’s delightful children books’ series): “Imagining is not lying”. She believe this is a trick only good literature can achieve.

(The photograph features a print by Samir Sayegh, Huriyya)