Audiobooks in Arabic: YouTube Channels that Unlock Worlds for Readers and Learners
(The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Al-Fanar Media).
Audiobooks in Arabic were a game-changer for me.
As an avid reader, I’ve always cherished the worlds that books open up. However, time constraints gradually slowed my reading progress over time. Thankfully, I discovered a format that not only reignited my passion for reading but also significantly boosted my monthly book count: audiobooks.
Audiobooks have been a saving grace, particularly when it comes to devouring novels. They provide a convenient way to enjoy literature while multitasking or during moments when sitting down with a physical book isn’t feasible. While I still struggle with non-fiction books in this format, novels have become my go-to choice, enabling me to explore more literary treasures each month.
In an effort to share this transformative experience with fellow Arabic readers and learners, I’ve curated a selective list of YouTube channels and platforms that offer a vast collection of audiobooks in Arabic.
The channels on my list cater to a wide range of interests, from timeless classical works to contemporary novels, so there’s something for every literary taste.
While many of these resources offer free access, some may come with paid services as well. Additionally, there may be instances where certain audiobooks could potentially violate copyrights. However, I’ve included them in this list based on their value and helpfulness to listeners, keeping transparency at the forefront.
Whether you’re a seasoned reader looking to explore new genres or a language learner eager to immerse yourself in literature written in or translated to Arabic, this list aims to be your guide to unlocking the world of audiobooks.
Conscience. This channel showcases literary works by distinguished authors, including the French-Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf, the French-Egyptian Gilbert Sinoué, Morocco’s Mohamed Choukri, the Algerian author Waciny Laredj, Brazil’s Jorge Amado, Israel’s Amos Oz, and the American Louisa May Alcott. It also offers works by Nobel laureates such as Peru’s Mario Vargas Llosa, Portugal’s José Saramago, and Colombia’s Gabriel Garcia Márquez, besides a work by the Polish sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman. (46 videos, last updated 11 months ago.)
Lovecraft. This channel features literary works by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Franz Kafka, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, and Jane Austen. The Lebanese-American poet Khalil Gibran, the Austrian Stefan Zweig, and the Egyptian thinker Abbas Mahmoud Al-Aqqad are also represented, as are works by modern and classical Islamic authors and scholars. The latter include Abbas al-Aqqad, Ibn al-Jawzi, Ibn Rushd (Averroës), Al-Ghazali, and Al-Jahiz. (147 videos, last updated a year ago.)
Psalms of Meem. This channel offers works by a diverse collection of authors, including the Lebanese-Palestinian poet May Ziadeh, the Jordanian-born novelist Abdelrahman Munif, the Syrian author Ghada Al-Samman, the Iranian novelist Sadegh Hedayat, and the Russian writers Mikhail Bulgakov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Nikolai Gogol. Additionally, it features poetry by Iraqi poets Sargon Boulus and Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab, the Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani, and classics such as Dante’s “Divine Comedy”, Goethe’s “Faust”, and Kafka’s “Letters to Milena”. The channel also includes philosophical works by the Egyptian scholar Abdel Wahab El-Messiri, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Baruch Spinoza, and Bertrand Russell, as well as psychological works by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. (156 videos, last updated a year ago.)
Lisan Arabi. This channel features a wide range of novels and short stories by authors such as Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Turgenev, Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, and Mark Twain. Also represented: the Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, the Lebanese poets Mikhail Naimy and Khalil Gibran, the Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani, the Egyptian Abbas Al-Aqqad, and French literary figures Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Albert Camus. The site also includes poems by the Palestinian Mahmoud Darwish and Syria’s Nizar Qabbani, along with Arabic language learning lessons and short videos of poems and literary excerpts. (956 videos, updated daily.)
Book Cafe. This channel presents a variety of works, including the Egyptian Nabil Farouk’s spy novel series, Gustave Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary”, Margaret Mitchell’s “Gone with the Wind”, the Arabian Nights, works by Stefan Zweig, and detective novels by Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle. (181 videos, last updated a year ago.)
Al-Hasriaat Library. This channel features modern novels by Egyptian authors such as Ashraf El-Ashmawi, Bassem El Kheshen, Osama Abdel-Raouf El-Shazly, Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, Hanan Lachine, and Hassan El-Gindi. It also includes works by Ghassan Kanafani, the Iraqi author Ahmed Khairi Alomari, and the Jordanian writer Ayman Otoom. Additionally, the library offers Arabic translations of the Game of Thrones and Harry Potter novels. (43 videos, updated frequently.)
Eslam Adel. This channel offers a variety of works by authors such as Gabriel Garcia Márquez, Anton Chekhov, Khalil Gibran, and Haruki Murakami. It also has detective novels by Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, and horror fiction by Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King, and the Egyptians Nabil Farouk and Ahmed Khaled Tawfik. It also features works by the Egyptian physician-turned-writer Mustafa Mahmoud, Alain Deneault’s “Mediocracy”, and books on Zionism by Theodor Herzl and Abdul Wahab El-Messiri. The channel also provides videos on narration and voice-over skills. (451 videos, updated frequently.)
Mamoun Olimat. This channel features timeless classics by authors such as Fyodor Dostoevsky and Victor Hugo, excerpts from the “Meditations” of Marcus Aurelius, and works by the German philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche and Arthur Schopenhauer, the Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran, the French poet Charles Baudelaire, and American poet Charles Bukowski. Additionally, it provides insights into classical Arabic poetry. The channel focuses on themes of nihilism and pessimism, and it also offers paid services. (263 videos, updated frequently.)
Kitabologia. This channel showcases Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective works and a novel by Nikolai Gogol, excerpts from Latin American literature, and the Egyptian scholar Ahmad Amin’s investigations of three histories of Ibn Tufayl’s Hayy ibn Yaqzan written by prominent Islamic thinkers. (34 videos, last updated a week ago.)
Ebraheim Saeid. This channel presents works by authors including Albert Camus, Emily Brontë, the Scottish-Canadian author Robert Barr, and the Scottish crime novelist Josephine Tey. (40 videos, updated frequently.)
Read Me a Book. This channel explores a wide range of topics, including history, biographies, and memoirs. It offers books by notable politicians like Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi, the political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and works by Sigmund Freud, Albert Einstein, and the Egyptian-American Nobel chemistry laureate Ahmed Zewail, along with works by Edward Said and the Algerian philosopher Malek Bennabi. The channel covers a diverse array of books and political figures from countries like Iraq, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia. Additionally, it presents novels written by former prisoners, literature on freemasonry in the Arab world, studies on Islamic religious groups, analyses of British and Ottoman policies in the region, and more. (176 videos, updated frequently.)
AudioBooksinArabic. Covering a range of topics including philosophy, mythology, feminism, and fiction, this channel features novels by Dostoevsky, the Egyptian Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, and Algeria’s Waciny Laredj, as well as books on Nietzsche, Hegel, Marx, Freud, and Bertrand Russell. It also has works by philosophers Simone de Beauvoir, Frédéric Lenoir, Spinoza, and Schopenhauer; Firas al-Sawwah’s books on ancient history and mythology; and writings by Ibn Rushd (Averroës) and Ibn Arabi. 113 videos, last updated ten months ago.
Listentome.Library. This channel presents a collection of novels by the Egyptian authors Naguib Mahfouz, Taha Hussein, Anis Mansour, Ibrahim Aslan, and Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, as well as the Iraqi author Ahmed Khairy Alomari. It also features works by Dostoevsky, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, George Orwell, and José Saramago, as well as works by Mario Puzo (“The Godfather”) and the Norwegian crime novelist Jo Nesbø. Additionally, it features books on Islamic figures and etiquette, psychology, and self-help. (173 videos, updated frequently.)
Novel (Rewaya). This channel features a selection of full-length novels by authors such as Naguib Mahfouz, Ihsan Abdel Quddous, and the Afghan-American Khaled Hosseini, as well as Khalil Gibran’s “The Madman”. (96 videos, last updated two months ago.)
Riwayat Alamya (Global Novel Masterpieces). The range of titles on this channel includes Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, works by the English writers Jerome K. Jerome and E. Charles Vivian (“The Adventures of Robin Hood”), science fiction by Egypt’s Nabil Farouk, as well as novels by Naguib Mahfouz, Taha Hussein, and Gabriel Garcia Márquez. (176 videos, updated frequently.)
Almaktabaa (The Library). This channel features literary works by a variety of authors, including the Franco-Belgian playwright Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, the American writer Jean Webster (“Daddy-Long-Legs”), and the Egyptian authors Agher Al-Gammal and Radwa Ashour. It also offers books on philosophy by Schopenhauer and sociology by Gustave Le Bon. (36 videos, last updated nine months ago.)
Audio Novels (Rewayat). This channel is dedicated to the blind and to lovers of audio books. On it, you will find works by renowned authors as varied as Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Anton Chekhov, and Sudan’s Tayeb Salih. (227 videos, last updated a year ago.)
Kitab_24. This channel presents novels and nonfiction works by a range of authors, including the Emirati author Sultan Al Ameemi, the Saudi writer Abdullah Al-Maghlouth, the Turkish author İskender Pala, the Italian writer Emilio Salgari, and the Egyptians Naguib Mahfouz, Khairy Shalaby, Mahmoud Wahba, and Haitham Dabbour. (21 videos, last updated eight months ago.)
Audiobook (Bilarabi). This channel delves into classical literature, short stories, horror tales, and contemporary works. It features renowned authors such as Japan’s Haruki Murakami, Egyptian writers Raji Inayat and Naguib Mahfouz, Palestine’s Ghassan Kanafani, and English literary figures Algernon Blackwood, Rudyard Kipling, H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Mary Shelley. Additionally, it includes works by Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Franz Kafka, Stefan Zweig, French authors Guy de Maupassant and Jean Bruller (known as “Vercors”), Italians Umberto Eco and Alessandro Baricco, the Argentinian Federico Jeanmaire, and Chile’s Antonio Skármeta, as well as American authors Jack London, Edgar Allan Poe, and H.P. Lovecraft. . 227 videos, updated frequently.
This list isn’t exhaustive. Feel free to share other free YouTube channels offering audiobooks in the Comments section below. Enjoy your reading journey!
