Gulf | Bahrain
Sixteen authors compete for international Arabic fiction prize
Sixteen Arab authors have been selected for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2009, organisers have said.
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 23:54 November 13, 2008
Manama: Sixteen Arab authors have been selected for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2009, organisers have said.
The list of the authors in the running for the prize includes three from Egypt, two from Syria, Iraq, Morocco, Palestine and Lebanon, and one author from Tunisia, Libya and Yemen.
Only two women, from Iraq and Lebanon, have been selected by a panel of five judges from Europe and the Arab World from the 121 eligible entries of prose fiction in Arabic.
A short list of six authors and the 2009 judges will be announced on December 10 in London. The winner will be announced at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on March 16 on the eve of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair.
Quality and diversity
"The long list demonstrates the quality and diversity of contemporary Arabic writing. It deserves a wider audience and the prize should help secure that," Jonathan Taylor, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said in a statement sent to Gulf News.
"The International Prize for Arabic Fiction, now in its second year, aims to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic creative writing and to encourage wider readership of quality Arabic literature internationally," the statement said.
The prize was officially launched in Abu Dhabi in April 2007 in association with the Booker Prize Foundation, and with the support of the Emirates Foundation.
"I am sure that the Emirates Foundation will be happy with the progress of this prize, which promises to be even more successful in its second year. We are all committed to the success and development of contemporary Arabic literature," Zaki Nusseibeh, one of the prize's trustees and Vice-Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage, said.
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction is awarded specifically for prose fiction in Arabic and each of the six shortlisted authors receives $10,000 (Dh36,700), with a further $50,000 going to the winner.
The committee received a total of 131 submissions this year from 16 Arab countries (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Morocco, Palestine, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Algeria, Oman and Kuwait).
Of the novels submitted, 104 were written by male authors and 17 entries by female writers.
The winner of the 2008 prize, Sunset Oasis by Egyptian novelist Baha Taher, is currently being translated into English by Humphrey Davies, a well-known translator of Arab literature.
According to Joumana Haddad, the prize's administrator, "the prize is already starting to fulfil its objective."
"The inaugural year has seen great success and there is already a higher level of interest in the translation of Arab fiction, not only for those shortlisted for the prize, but generally," she said.
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