Rules of Entry
Rules of Entry.
Submissions for the 2022 Prize are now closed.
Submissions opened on 1 April 2021 and closed on 30 June 2021
Download a copy of the Submission form in Arabic.
• IPAF is dedicated to the literary novel. Books of short stories or collections of poetry are not eligible.
• Electronic books are not eligible.
• Authors cannot submit their own work: submissions are to be made by eligible publishers but this must be done in consultation with the authors.
• An eligible publisher is one who has been in business at least 2 years and who is an active publisher with a catalogue or list of its fiction titles demonstrating its activity and which is publicly available.
•The number of novels an eligible publisher can submit will depend on that publisher’s inclusion in longlists from 2017 to 2021, as follows:
1 submission – publishers with no longlisting.
2 submissions – publishers with 1 or 2 longlisting(s).
3 submissions – publishers with 3 or 4 longlistings.
4 submissions – publishers with 5 or more longlistings.
The longlists for 2017 to 2021 are set out below.
• Self-published novels or novels which have been published via a commercial arrangement through which the publisher is paid by the author are not eligible. If the publisher is a company then if the novel is by the person who owns the majority shareholding or otherwise controls the company it is not eligible.
• The novel must be published between 1 September 2020 and 30 June 2021.
• The novel must be written in Arabic: Arabic translations of a book originally written in any other language are not eligible.
• Authors must be living at the time of the award.
• Only one novel is accepted per author, and manuscripts are not eligible.
• Every novel submitted must have an ISBN number.
• A novel which has first been published in its entirety in instalments (in print or online) before September 2020 is not eligible. This prohibition applies to any type of publishing or publication.
• The novel must respect publishing rights and copyrights of the Arab country where it has been published and any novel which is published without the permission of the original author and/or publisher is not eligible.
• The publisher must submit seven copies of each novel, along with the application form, to the Administrator: Fleur Montanaro, IPAF, 11a Harbut Road, London SW11 2RA, UK.
• If a publisher submits a novel by an author who has previously been shortlisted for the Prize, this work will not be counted in the publisher’s submissions quota, that is, it is accepted automatically and in addition to the works which the publisher is otherwise allowed to submit.
• The Administrator of the Prize is unable to return any books entered by publishers.
• The decisions of the Judges at all stages of each prize cycle (longlist, shortlist and winner) are final and cannot be subject to objection.
• All submissions are made on a confidential basis.
• If a submitted novel is longlisted, the publisher must send ten further copies of the novel to the Administrator immediately after the longlist announcement.
• By allowing publishers to submit their novels, authors are deemed to agree that if they are shortlisted, they will be available for promotional activities such as tours and media appearances related to the Prize, both in the Arab world and abroad.
• IPAF reserves the right to reject any novel that does not comply with the conditions set out above and its decision is final; it may impose other sanctions as it sees fit.
International Prize for Arabic Fiction Longlists from 2017 to 2021
*Shortlisted novels are marked with an asterisk
2021
The Eye of Hammurabi by Abdulatif Ould Abdullah*
M for Murderer: S for Sa’id by Abdullah Albsais
Hole to Heaven by Abdulla Al-Eyaf
Notebooks of the Bookshop Keeper by Jalal Bargas*
Boxes of Desire by Abbas Baydoun
The Orchards of Basra by Mansoura Ez Eldin
The Life of Butterflies by Youssef Fadel
The Calamity of the Nobility by Amira Ghenim*
The Night Bird by Amara Lakhous*
The Bird Tattoo by Dunya Mikhail
J by Sara al-Nams
Two Green Eyes by Hamed al-Nazir
Daughter of the Tigris by Muhsin Al-Ramli
File 42 by Abdelmeguid Sabata*
Longing for the Woman Next Door by Habib Selmi*
Fruit for the Crows by Ahmed Zein
2020
The Last Days of the Pasha by Rasha Adly
The Spartan Court by Abdelouahab Aissaoui*
Seferberlik by Magbool Al-Alawi
The Russian Quarter by Khalil Alrez*
Al-Mutanabbi’s Rabat by Hassan Aourid
What About Rachel, the Jewish Lady? by Salim Barakat
The King of India by Jabbour Douaihy*
The War of the Gazelle by Aisha Ibrahim
Sleeping in the Cherry Field by Azhar Jerjis
The Stairs of Trolar by Samir Kacimi
No-one Prayed Over Their Graves by Khaled Khalifa
Firewood of Sarajevo by Said Khatibi*
The Tank by Alia Mamdouh*
The Mingling of the Seasons by Bachir Mefti
Hammam Dhahab by Mohammed Eissa al-Mu'adab
Fardequan – the Detention of the Great Sheikh by Youssef Ziedan*
2019
Women without Trace by Mohammed Abi Samra
Voyage of the Cranes in the Cities of Agate by Omaima Abullah Al-Khamis
The Night Mail by Hoda Barakat*
Women of the Five Senses by Jalal Bargas
The Commandments by Adel Esmat*
Mohammed's Brothers by Maysalun Hadi
Black Foam by Haji Jaber
The Outcast by Inaam Kachachi*
May- The Nights of Isis Copia by Waciny Laredj
What Sin Caused her to Die? by Mohammed Al-Maazuz*
I Killed My Mother in Order to Live by May Menassa
Western Mediterranean by Mbarek Rabi
Me and Haim by Habib Sayah
Summer with the Enemy by Shahla Ujayli*
The Mexican Wife by Iman Yehia
Cold White Sun by Kafa Al-Zou'bi*
2018
The Earthen Fortress by Ahmad Abdulatif
Christina by Atef Abu Saif
Passion by Rasha Adly
Huddud's House by Fadi Azzam
The Last Country by Antoine Douaihy
Flowers in Flames by Amir Tag Elsir*
The Critical Case of “K” by Aziz Mohammed*
The Second War of the Dog by Ibrahim Nasrallah*
Here is the Rose by Amjad Nasser
The Black Peacock by Hamed al-Nazir
The Baghdad Clock by Shahad Al Rawi*
Al-Najdi by Taleb al-Refai
Heir of the Tombstones by Walid Shurafa*
The Frightened by Dima Wannous*
Ali, the Story of an Honourable Man by Hussein Yassin
Leg Over Leg - in the Sighting of the Lovers' Crescent by Amin Zaoui
2017
Hot Maroc by Yassin Adnan
One Room Is Not Enough by Sultan Al Ameemi
A Small Death by Mohammed Hasan Alwan*
Index by Sinan Antoon
The Slave Pens by Najwa Binshatwan*
The Witches' Resort by Amir Tag Elsir
Al-Sabiliat by Ismail Fahd Ismail*
Swastika by Ali Ghadeer
The Year of the Radio by Renée Hayek
Days of Dust by Zuheir al-Hiti
The North Africans by Abdul-Kareem Jouaity
The Slaughter of the Philosophers by Taissier Khalaf
Children of the Ghetto – My name is Adam by Elias Khoury*
In the Spider’s Room by Mohammed Abdel Nabi*
The Bookseller’s Murder by Saad Mohammed Raheem*
Paolo by Youssef Rakha