This is the last issue of Banipal, the independent literary magazine, marking 25 years of translating and publishing contemporary literature by Arab authors. Arabic literature will always need a magazine like Banipal. In fact, more than one. We're closing at No 75, not because the magazine is no longer necessary but because we, as central producers, can no longer continue to operate. We no longer have the physical energy necessary and believe that for the magazine to continue, there must be new blood, a young staff, with the same enthusiasm and conviction that we have had all these years. We leave behind a massive archive of literature by umpteen different authors and in different genres, opening up an endlessly enthralling world of Arabic literary works.