THE INTERNATIONAL PRIZE FOR
ARABIC FICTION 2008

Shortlist Announced

Baha Taher, Jabbour Douaihy, Khaled Khalifa, Elias Farkouh, May Menassa, and Mekkaoui Said are the six authors shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2008, a prestigious new literary prize which aims to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic creative writing and to encourage wider readership of quality Arabic literature internationally. There were 131 entries from 18 countries.

The shortlist was announced by the chair of judges, Samuel Shimon, at a press conference at BAFTA in London today (Tuesday 29th January), with a simultaneous announcement in Abu Dhabi.

The six shortlisted books were chosen from over 130 titles and are: (in the alphabetical order of the authors’ names)                                                                         

The judging panel commented on each of the shortlisted novels as follows:

June Rain
Publisher: An Nahar, Beirut, 2006

Jabbour Douaihy’s novel evokes the horrors of internal division in Lebanon, through its observation of the daily life of a village where vendetta is the prevailing system of justice. The work is notable for its precision of language, for its use of the multiple viewpoint technique, and for a vocabulary that highlights the hidden aspects of the conflict.

The Land of Limbo
Publisher: Al Mou’assassa Al Arabiyya, Beirut/Jordan, 2007

Elias Farkouh’s novel combines the structure of an autobiography of a specific man with the biography of exiled man in general. If discusses the power of time and the vulnerability of the human being in a fresh and original language, using a number of different voices.  

In Praise of Hatred
Publisher: Amisa, Damascus, 2006

Khaled Khalifa’s work narrates the experience of oppression under fundamentalist organizations in a Syrian society that is devoid of democracy. The work employs a multi-layered language to depict a set of characters torn apart in the face of an uncertain future.

Walking in the Dust
Publisher: Riad el Rayess, Beirut, 2006

May Menassa’s work celebrates a memory that is scarred by the tragedies of war and loss in today’s world. The novel is written in a distinctively flowing prose style, with a hint of poetry well suited to the universal pain with which it deals.

Swan song
Publisher: Al Dar, Cairo, 2007

Mekkaoui Said’s work employs the novel form to depict an unstable, ever-changing social reality. He employs an innovative structure to introduce us to a reading of reality and its transformations, in a work of beauty that both laments a lyrical time now past, and fashions a potential future of unanswerable questions.

Sunset Oasis
Publisher: Al Shorooq, Cairo, 2007

Baha Taher delivers in this book a high quality fiction work, at both the aesthetic and value levels. And depending on the metaphor of the journey that crystallizes the existential crisis of a defeated man, he deals with many broad human questions.

For more info about the 6 shortlisted writers, click here.

To get the six shortlisted novels, click here.

Samuel Shimon, the chair of the Judges, said: “it has been a great honor for me to chair the judging panel for the IPAF in its first year, and to be accompanied by five judges who have such a high degree of experience, competence and reputation”.

The shortlisted authors will each receive $10,000, while the final winner will receive an additional $50,000.

The judging panel for the 2008 International Prize for Arabic Fiction is: Mohammed Bennis, Moroccan poet and critic; Mohammed Berrada, Moroccan writer and critic; Feissal Darraj, Palestinian writer and critic; Ghalia Kabbani, Syrian writer and journalist; Samuel Shimon, Iraqi writer and journalist; Paul Starkey, British writer and translator.

At today’s press conference, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Jonathan Taylor, outlined a series of initiatives to sponsor the translation of the winning novel into other languages. He said: “The purpose of the Prize is to secure recognition, reward and readership for outstanding Arabic fiction of the highest quality. To this end, it must be judged with absolute independence and integrity. A further objective of the prize is to ensure translation and publication of the winning work in other languages”.

Maytha Al Habsi, Director of Communications at the Emirates Foundation, commented: “This wonderful project to broaden the spread of Arab culture through modern Arabic literature has at last begun. At a gala dinner in Abu Dhabi on March 10, hosted by the Emirates Foundation, we look forward to announcing the winner and to getting the author’s words published in as many languages as possible”.

Joumana Haddad, the Prize’s Administrator, added: “I hope that the Prize will open up many new opportunities for the translation and wider readership for Arabic Literature. Literature is, and will always be, the best tool for cross-cultural dialogue”.

The Prize, which was officially launched in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in April 2007 in association with the Booker Prize Foundation, and with the support of the Emirates Foundation, has received hundreds of submissions in its inaugural year from the following eighteen Arab countries: Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Palestine, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Sudan, Algeria, Eritrea, Mauritania, Yemen, Oman and Bahrain. The majority of the submissions for this year’s prize came from Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, with 22% of the submissions from female writers and 78% from male writers.

The winner will be announced on 10 March at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

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Notes to Editors

• All works submitted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction must be prose fiction in Arabic. The shortlist of the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction consist of six books

• The six judges of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2008 were announced at the shortlist press conference on 29 January 2008. They are, in alphabetical order: Mohammed Bennis, Moroccan poet and critic; Mohammed Berrada, Moroccan writer and critic; Feissal Darraj, Palestinian writer and critic; Ghalia Kabbani, Syrian writer and journalist; Samuel Shimon, Iraqi writer and journalist; Paul Starkey, British writer and translator.

• Spokespeople for the Prize are: Jonathan Taylor CBE, Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Joumana Haddad, Prize Administrator. To arrange an interview, please contact: Katy MacMillan-Scott at Colman Getty on 020 7631 2666 or katy@colmangetty.co.uk

• This is the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction. For a full history of the prize visit the website: www.arabicfiction.org. The site features the rules of entry, background information and breaking news and is the quickest way for the prize’s worldwide audience to access information

• The International Prize for Arabic Fiction is funded by the Emirates Foundation, one of the leading philanthropic organisations in the UAE

• An independent Board of Trustees, drawn from across the Arab world and beyond, is responsible for the overall management of the prize. The trustees are, in alphabetical order: Marie-Thérèse Abdul-Messih, Professor of English & Comparative Literature, University of Cairo, Egypt; Dr. Peter Clark OBE, Independent Consultant and Writer, Middle East Cultural Advisory Services, UK; Riad El-Rayyes, Publisher, Riad El-Rayyes Books, Lebanon; Omar Saif Ghobash, Cultural Activist, Abu Dhabi, UAE; Sasha Havlicek, Executive Director, Trialogue Educational Trust; Khaled Hroub, Arab journalist, UK; Farouk Mardam-Bey, Cultural Advisor, Institut du Monde Arabe, France; Margaret Obank, Publisher and Editor, Banipal magazine of Modern Arab Literature, UK; William Sieghart Chairman & Founder, Forward Publishing, National Poetry Day, UK; Yasir Suleiman, Professor of Arabic, University of Cambridge, UK; Evelyn Smith, Company Secretary, Booker Prize Foundation, UK; Jonathan Taylor CBE, Chairman, Booker Prize Foundation, UK