The International Prize for Arabic Fiction announced its long list of nominee authors this week. 16 writers were chosen from 159 entries.
It includes first novels from Tareq Bakari and Abdennour Mezzine and two authors from the prize’s annual writers’ workshop or nadwa. Two other finalists (Mohamed Mansi Qandil and Rabai al-Madhoun) have been shortlisted previously in 2010.
The long list is:
Here, Taleb Alrefai from Kuwait
Hymns of Temptation, Laila al-Atrash from Palestine/Jordan
Numedia, Tareq Bakari from Morocco
The Temple of Silken Fingers, Ibrahim Farghali from Egypt
People of the Palms, Janan Jasim Halawi, Iraq
Mariam’s Journey, Mahmoud Hasan al-Jasim, Syria
Desertified Waters, Hazim Kamaledin, Iraq,
Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Nakba, Rabai al-Madhoun, Palestine
Letters of the Storm, Abdennour Mezzine, Morocco
Warsaw, a Little While Ago, Ahmed Muhsin, Lebanon
The Prophecy of Saqqa, Hamed al-Nazir, Sudan
The Black Brigade, Mohamed Mansi Qandil, Egypt
Mercury, Mohamed Rabie, Egypt
Praise for the Women of the Family, Mahmoud Shukair, Palestine
A Sky Close to Our House, Shahla Ujayli, Syria
The Guard of the Dead, George Yaraq, Lebanon
The shortlist will be announced in Muscat on 9 February and the winner will be revealed in Abu Dhabi on 26 April, as part of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. First prize is $50,000, while the shortlisted authors receive $10,000 each and the winner’s book will be translated and printed in English as well as Arabic.
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction is an annual literary prize for prose fiction in Arabic. It is run with the support of the Booker Prize Foundation in London and funded by the Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) in the UAE.