SCPS Graduate Hopes to Create Moroccan Publishing Company

By Carmen Tong

Selma Benjelloun, the sixth Fulbright Scholar to study in the M.S. in Publishing Program within the School of Continuing and Professional Studies (SCPS), is anxious to apply what she has learned to the competitive world of international book publishing. In her native country of Morocco, where 43 percent of the population is illiterate, she is determined to pursue her goal of publishing—in Moroccan Arabic—graphic novels that satirize the new generation of Moroccan young adults.

Benjelloun gained knowledge of the business while working during her free time as a children’s books editor for a French-Moroccan publishing company her aunt and uncle own in her hometown of Casablanca. She also studied marketing and international business as an undergraduate at Al Alkhawayn University, a private school based on the American university model. After receiving her Fulbright fellowship, she chose the publishing program at SCPS because it encompassed all the management areas she believes will help her start a successful publishing business.

Benjelloun attributes much of her progress and inspiration to NYU’s Robert Baensch, her Capstone project professor and academic adviser in the program.

“It is thanks to Robert that I went to the Frankfurt International Book fair where I saw the world of publishing around me,” says Benjelloun. “I was so impressed and so happy to be part of this fascinating industry, and with Robert as my guide throughout the event, we participated in many talks and presentations about the Arab publishing industry. Both of us are concerned about this part of the world where enlightenment through books and education is needed now more than ever before.”