The Outpost issue 6
Delivered to Stack subscribers in
Sep 2015
A self-proclaimed “magazine of possibilities” for the Middle East and North Africa, The Outpost paints an honest and optimistic picture of life in the Arab world. With its fascinating insights and high quality content, this is one of the most interesting and important independent magazines being published today.
Keep scrolling to read our interview with founder and editor-in-chief, Ibrahim Nehme…
Name
Ibrahim Nehme
Job title
Founder / editor-in-chief
What is The Outpost?
The Outpost is a magazine of possibilities in the Arab world.
What makes it different to the rest?
What it is: a magazine of possibilities. What it does: capturing the evolving zeitgeist while offering readers a space for imagination. What it aims to achieve: a sociocultural renaissance in the Arab region.
Who makes The Outpost?
A Beirut-based team of young, independent and enthusiastic thinkers and artists, with contributors from across the Arab region.
Who reads it?
Three different groups of people and for three different reasons. You have the young Arabs who live and work in the region – the magazine is made by and for them, it captures their energies and attempts to inspire them to keep pushing this ongoing revolution forward.
The second group is mostly European – some of them read it because it offers a fresh view on the Arab world that I don’t think you can find a lot of elsewhere, while others may be reading it because it is a well-made magazine. (I don’t mean to sound pretentious, but I think there’s a highly conceptual/creative aspect inherent to the magazine, which makes some of its editorial and creative elements universal and makes me think that it appeals to a broad group of people, even if they are not necessarily interested in Arabian affairs.)
The third group is Arab expats living around the world and for them, I believe, the magazine is like a taste of home away from home.
Why do you work in magazines?
Because magazines matter. They can open people’s eyes to injustices and missed opportunities, they can shift perspectives and inspire thought, and they can offer a space for a group of people to imagine and dream of a better future. And by doing so, magazines can help in changing the world. Or not to sound overly ambitious, they can help in making the world a tiny bit better.
Aside from the print magazine, what else are you involved in?
We’ve been recently leveraging our editorial and creative capacities to help other organisations produce great works of print. In addition, we’ve been working on several projects that intend to take the magazine to the next level, like our digital platform as well as some offline projects that we will announce soon.
What would you change about The Outpost if you could?
The print magazine keeps on changing – even if in subtle ways that are not necessarily visible to the reader. But change is inherent to the evolution of things. What I would really change if I could would be our financial situation. It’s really frustrating that this is a problem that sometimes hinders our creative flow – after we send an issue to print, we start worrying about how we will make enough money to print the next one.
Where do you see The Outpost in five years?
I see it as one of main the catalysts of sociocultural change in the Arab region.
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