Six novelists shortlisted for 'Arabic Booker' prize

Abu Dhabi: The winner of a literary award for prose fiction will go home with about Dh180,000.

A prize of $10,000 (about Dh36,000) will go to each of the six shortlisted novelists in this Arabic version of the Booker Prize.

The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) was launched in April 2007 and is the first of its kind. It is supported by the Emirates Foundation.

Ahmad Ali Al Sayegh, managing director of the Emirates Foundation, said: "The foundation's support for the prize - and the opportunities that it presents to spread Arab culture to new audiences - is based on the Abu Dhabi government's efforts to make Abu Dhabi and the UAE among the most prominent cultural centres in the world."

Reward for excellence

Khuloud Al Nowais, projects director of Emirates Foundation, said: "The award aims to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic creative writing and to encourage wider readership of quality Arabic literature internationally."

The winner, out of the six shortlisted novelists, will be announced at a gala dinner in Abu Dhabi on March 10, Al Nowais said.

The winner will receive $50,000 (about Dh180,000) as prize money and have the winning novel published and distributed. The six shortlisted titles for the inaugural the International Prize for Arabic Fiction were announced in London on January 29, in association with the UK's Booker Prize Foundation. About 130 works were entered for the prize from 18 countries.

Joumana Haddad, prize administrator, said: "The shortlisted titles and winner have been selected by the completely independent IPAF jury of six writers, editors and critics, who have deliberately remained anonymous until the shortlist was announced [yesterday]. The IPAF Board of Trustees appointed the judges last year, and they have had complete and sole discretion in the selection of the titles."

Fiction: The finalists

June Rain - Jabbour Douaihy from Lebanon in this novel brought up the horrors of the civil war in Lebanon through the daily life of a village where Muslims and Christians live together, in a precise language and in a multi-dimensional prose, and a vocabulary that highlights the hidden aspects of the conflict.

The Land of Purgatory - Elias Farkouh (left) rom Jordan merges in his novel the structure of the autobiography of a specific man, with the biography of the exiled man in general, while talking about the power of time and the vulnerability of the human being and his strength, in a fresh and brilliant language, using different voices.

In Praise of Hate - Khalid Khalifa (left) rom Syria narrates the experience of oppression under the fundamentalist organisations and from inside a Syrian society deprived of democracy, in a multi-levelled language, and through characters who are torn apart facing an uncertain future.

Walking in the Dust - May Menassa from Lebanon praises the memory that is scarred by the horrors of the war and loss in today's world. The novel is written in a flowing style and rich prose, with a poetic dimension which suits the universal pain it is dealing with.

Swan Song - Saeed Mekkaoui (left) from Egypt presents in the form of fiction an ever changing social reality, and he uses the form as an introduction to reading reality and its transformations, in a novel that laments a passing lyrical time, and shapes the future with unanswered questions.

Sunset Oasis - Baha Taher (left) from Egypt delivers in this book a fine work of fiction. Depending on the metaphor of the journey that crystallises the existential crisis of a defeated man, he deals with many broad human questions.

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