2009 Naguib Mahfouz Award announced

The View from Fez has the scoop as a Moroccan writer, Bensalem Himmich, professor of philosophy at the Mohammed V University in Rabat. He is the auhtor of over 26 books in both Arabic and French.

He has previously won the critics' prize (1990) for his novel "Le fou du pouvoir," a book elected by the Arab Union of Writers as one of the hundred best books of the 20th century. He also won the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature for his book Al-'Allamah (2001), "The Polymath," a book about the great Arab writer Ibn Khaldoun.

I can't find the title of the winning book anywhere, including the page at American University of Cairo, who publish the English translations of the winning books -- they're still on 2007.

More on Beirut39 and the case of the disappearing judges

The Tanjara has an interview with Alaa al-Aswany that explores his reasons for resigning as chair of the judging panel. Aswany commented that

“One day after I accepted their offer, I received a list of 90 names of young writers who were candidates for the competition. I later learned that those names had been chosen by the literary magazine Banipal, which issued its own selection."

This narrowed the original criteria of the competition, which had declared it was open to all writers under 40 of Arabic origin. al-Aswany also felt the award had been compromised by a lack of awareness in the Arab world:

“In Egypt no one was aware of the mere existence of this literary contest, except people with good connections in the cultural field and a bunch of journalists".

The deadline for candidacies has been extended to August 24th and the nominations page remains open to all.

What's going on at Beirut39?

The Tanjara has a lead: an article from Al-Hayat [Ar] concerning Alaa al-Aswany's resignation as chair of the jury. It's a follow-up to her interview with the author after the recent publication of his short story collection, Friendly Fire.

Etisalat Award for Arab Children's Literature

Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, daughter of the ruler of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, is pretty serious about upping the game of Arabic children's literature: in 2007 she founded her own publishing house, Kalimat (which has a fun interactive website in Arabic and English), and the Arab Children’s Book Publishers Forum (currently exhibiting at Book Expo America), a trade organization which now boasts 60 members. This year, it's a prize in conjunction with telecommunications Etisalat, worth one million dirhams ($270, 000) to be split between the publisher, author and/or illustrator. The 2009 winner is expected to be announced at the Sharjah World Book Fair, scheduled for November this year.

Award Season: Nominations Open for the Sheikh Zayed Awards

The Sheikh Zayed awards are

presented every year to outstanding Arab writers, intellectuals, publishers as well as young talent whose writings and translations of humanities have scholarly and objectively enriched Arab cultural, literary and social life.

You can nominate (yourself or a writer/publisher etc) in a number of categories. The awards are valued at 750, 000 dirhams each -- about £130, 000 or $205, 000 -- making them one of the richest literary prizes in the world.

Muslim Writers Awards 2009

The third annual British Muslim Writers Awards will take place on 27th May 2009 at London’s Park Lane Hilton. The MWA initiative recognises the breadth and quality of literary talent within the UK’s Muslim community. The Muslim Writers Awards initiative is now in its third year, and is organised by Innovate Arts – a non-profit body set up to encourage creative expression within economically deprived communities. MWA 2009 will recognise the work of 15 writers across eleven categories, including the prestigious “Writer of the Year” award.

Irfan Akram, Project Director for Innovate Arts, commented: “The number of submissions we received clearly demonstrate that British Muslims are passionate about creative expression. The body of work that we’ve reviewed this year includes earnest poetry, compelling journalism and gripping fiction. The winners represent the cream of British Muslim literary talent. And they will act as role models for a new generation of Muslims keen to develop their powers of creative expression.”

The ceremony will be broadcast live to millions of viewers across the UK, Europe and the Middle East by several satellite broadcasters including Islam Channel, the world’s number one Muslim channel. I'll post news of the winners here as soon as they're announced.

Beirut39: New Voices in Arabic Literature

Chad Post of Three Percent is blogging from Abu Dhabi about the book festival. Blog topics include: professionalising the Arab publishing industry; what's available for English-speaking readers (with shout-outs for AUC Press and Saqi); and the '39 Under 39' event by the Hay festival organised to celebrate Beirut beign UNESCO World Book Capital. A panel comprising Abdo Wazen, Huda Barakat, Elias Khoury and Maher Jarrer will select the 39 best Arabic writers under 39 -- to be announced in September with an anthology of short stories. There's information about the event, and about how to nominate an author here.

Al Amajidi Ibn Dhaher Blue Metropolis Arab Literary Prize 2009

Literary Saloon (always first with the global lit stories!) reports that Zakaria Tamer won the Blue Metropolis Arab Literary Prize for 2009, awarded at the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival in Montréal. Sponsored by Abu Dhabi, the prize "seeks to increase global awareness of Arab writers and literature, and strengthen the role of the UAE in supporting interaction among cultures and civilizations."

Tamer's short stories, Breaking Knees, are available in English from Garnet and The Hedgehog, a novel, is due shortly from AUC.

Gamal al-Ghitany wins Sheikh Zayed award

Gamal al-Ghitani has been announced as the winner of this year's Sheikh Zayed award for Literature. The winning book is the 6th volume of Dafater Al-Tadween, a series organised around the revival of memory, and encompasses the spiritual journey of the writer paralleled with travel from the Pyramid Plateau to the Southern parts of Egypt. The book was published by Dar Al Shourouq in 2008.

The advisory council decided that Jamal Al Ghitani’s work manifests the intersection of the spiritual and carnal, the artistic and intellectual, exceeding the boundaries of time and history.

Congratulations!

… to the winners of the ArtVenture prizes, awarded last night in London: the Freedom to Create Prize was awarded to Zimbabwean playwright Cont Mhlanga, a fierce critic of the Mugabe regime (who was unable to leave Zimbabwe to attend the ceremony), while the prize for an Imprisoned Activist went to Zargana, a Burmese comedian and activist who was arrested on the evening of 4 June 2008 after leading a private relief effort to deliver aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis which struck on 2 May 2008. English PEN reports that on 21 November 2008 he was handed a harsh 45-year sentence in response to h

is outspoken criticism of the government's slow response to the cyclone, and his opposition activities.

… to Laila Lalami, picked as one of the Top 10 litblogs at blogs.com

… to Queen Rania of Jordan, who won YouTube's first ever Visionary Award, for her videostream dedicated to combatting damaging stereotypes and misperceptions of Arabs and the Middle East (Global Voices collects tributes from the blogosphere here)



… to Lawrence Venuti, who Words Without Borders report is the winner of this year's Robert Fagles Translation Prize

Sherko Fatah

Sherko Fatah, an Iraqi Kurd who was born in the GDR and currently lives in Germany, has been nominated for the 2008 German Book Prize. Fatah has published three novels in German, including Im Grenzland (At the Borderline) -- Words Without Borders published an extract online, translated into English by Andrea Heyde. Qantara.de has a compelling review of the nominated new novel, Das dunkle Schiff (The Dark Ship), which tells the story of a reluctant jihadist who flees from Iraq to Germany. None of Fatah's novels have been published in English yet -- perhaps a win in the German Book Prize will lead a publisher to his work?