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Two books published by Difaf Publications have been shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2016, the "leading prize for literary fiction in the Arab world".
The Guard of the Dead, a new perspective on the Lebanese Civil War through the eyes of a hospital undertaker by George Yaraq and A Sky Close to Our House, which features the memories of Syria’s past from the viewpoint of a Syrian woman now living in exile by Shahla Ujayli are the two titles by Difaf Publications which make the prize shortlist.
Also shortlisted are debut novel Numedia (Dar al-Adab), a story of a Moroccan intellectual searching for identity through a series of relationships by Tareq Bakeri and Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Nakba (Maktabat Kul “Shee), a “pioneering” novel, written in four parts on the subject of Palestinian life in occupation and exile by Rabai al-Madhoun. Al-Madhoun was previously shortlisted in 2010 for his novel The Lady of Tel Aviv which was translated into English by Telegram Books.
Mercury (Dar Tanweer), a dystopian imagining of “the counter revolution” in Egypt by Mohamed Rabi and Praise for the Women of the Family (Hachette Antoine), the story of a tribe whose women play a vital role in integrating the family into urban Palestinian society during the 1950s by Mahmoud Shukair, complete the shortlist.
This year’s six shortlisted novels, which were selected from 159 entries from 18 countries, are “wide-ranging in subject matter, setting and style", the organisers of the prize, now in its ninth year, have said.
The 2016 judges include chair, Amina Thiban, an Emirati poet and academic specialising in literature, Sayyed Mahmoud, an Egyptian journalist and poet, who is currently editor of Al-Qahira newspaper, Mohammed Mechbal, a Moroccan academic and critic, Munir Mujić, a Bosnian academic, translator and researcher and Abdo Wazen, a Lebanese poet, critic and editor-in-chief of the cultural pages of Al-Hayat newspaper.
Thiban said: “The process of choosing the shortlist was a pleasure and a challenge in equal measure. This year’s list features a number of experimental works, which try out new ground as they explore the experiences of the individual and the larger concerns of the Arab world, from personal issues to social, political and historical ones. The shortlisted novels are characterised by their innovative narrative forms and styles, which both question the heritage of the Arabic novel and address the tragedy of the present day Middle East.”
The winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2016 will be announced at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday 26 April 2016, the eve of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. The six shortlisted finalists will receive $10,000, with a further $50,000 going to the winner.
Delivering on its aim to increase the international reach of Arabic fiction, prize organisers say all of its winners have received English translations. Raja Alem’s novel, The Dove’s Necklace (Duckworth), will be published on 2nd June this year and Saud Alsanousi’s The Bamboo Stalk (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing) was published in 2015. Other winners translated into English include Bahaa Taher’s Sunset Oasis (Sceptre), Youssef Ziedan’s Azazeel (Atlantic Books) and Abdo Khal’s Throwing Sparks and Mohammed Achaari’s The Arch and the Butterfly (both Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation). 2014 IPAF winner Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi has also secured English publication with Oneworld in the UK and Penguin Books in the US.
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 Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi) in the UAE.