18 November 2009
Announced on Tuesday, the list contain 16 authors, including the three Saudis, Umaima Al Khamis for The Leafy Tree, Abdullah bin Bakheet for Street of Affections and Abdo Khal for She Throws Sparks.
As is customary with the prize, the five judges from Europe and the Arab world will announce the six shortlisted finalists on December 15 at the Beirut Book Fair in Lebanon.
Jonathan Taylor, chairman of the Prize’s Board of Trustees, stressed the importance of getting a worldwide readership for the Arab writers.
“The Prize goes from strength to strength and not only the winners, but also many shortlisted writers are being translated and published in English and other languages. These writers deserve a wider audience and the Prize is helping to secure that,” he said.
According to Zaki Nusseibeh, one of the Prize’s trustees, the previous winners, Bahaa Taher, with his moving Sunset Oasis (2008) and Youssef Ziedan, with his controversial Azazel (2009) have already had their works translated and available for international readership.
In fact, Bahaa Taher’s Sunset Oasis has recently been published in the UK by Sceptre and it also has translation and publication deals in France, Germany, Norway, Greece Romania, Bosnia and Canada.
Azazel too will be published in English, Italian, German, Greek, Romanian, Bosnian and Croatian.
“It is so satisfying and exciting to see how IPAF, launched a mere three years ago, is already so well respected and celebrated in Arab and international literary circles,” he added. IPAF is awarded for prose fiction in Arabic and each of the six shortlisted finalists receives $10,000, with a further $50,000 going to the overall winner.
There were 115 eligible submissions, from 17 Arab countries.
The other selected authors for the 2010 longlist are Egyptians Mohammed Al Mansi Qindeel for A Cloudy Day on the West Side, Mansoura Ez Eldin for Beyond Paradise, Iraqis Muhsin Al Ramly for Fingers Pass, Ali Bader for Kings of the Sands, Lebanese Hassan Daoud for 180 Sunsets, Rabee Jabir for America, Alawiya Sobh for It’s Called Love, Jordanians Mahmoud Al-Rimawy for Who Will Cheer up the Lady, Jamal Naji for When the Wolves Grow Old, Palestinians Sahar Khalifeh for Origin and Branch, Raba’i Madhoun for The Lady from Tel Aviv, Algerian Samir Qasimi for A Great Day to Die and Syrian Rosa Yaseen Hassan for The Guards of the Air.
The winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2010 will be announced at the awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday March 2, 2010, the first day of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair.
