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'Arabic Booker’ winner revealed

11.03.08 Victoria Arnstein

The winner of the first ever International Prize for Arabic Fiction was announced at a gala dinner held in Abu Dhabi yesterday (10th March), on the eve of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair.

The prize, which is in association with the Booker Prize Foundation, aims to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic creative writing and to encourage the reading of Arabic literature worldwide. Submissions must have been published in Arabic, originally or as a translation.

The winner, chosen from six shortlisted titles, was Sunset Oasis by Egyptian writer Baha Taher. The novel, which has historical elements, is described as a "complicated love story" that deals with many broad human questions. Taher was awarded $60,000--$50,000 for being the overall winner and $10,000 for being on the shortlist. Sunset Oasis will now be translated into English and French.

The other shortlisted titles chosen by the panel from 131 entries were: June Rain by Douaihy Jabbour; The Land of Purgatory by Farkouh Elias; In Praise of Hate by Khaled Khalifa; Walking in the Dust by May Menassa; and Swan Song by Mekkaoui Said. Each of these authors received a $10,000 prize.

The International Prize for Arabic Fiction is managed by an independent board of trustees, including Jonathan Taylor, chairman of the Booker Prize Foundation. Speaking at the gala dinner, Taylor said that the prize served to "bring reward, readership and recognition to writers of outstanding fiction", adding that Arabic fiction "deserves to be far more widely known than it is".

Accepting his prize, Taher said that he was very pleased with the result but added that his first thought was for the other shortlisted entrants. "Literature as a creative colleague is not, like football, calculated with scores but can be calculated by many criteria," he said. He added that he felt sure that the other shortlisted entrants could find success in the prize in its future years.

Prize Victoria Arnstein International Prize for Arabic Fiction Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

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