Top Arab-World Authors at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair
The cultural program at this year’s Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, curated by the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, features a strong roster of writers from the Arab world. (Sponsored)
International Prize for Arabic Fiction-winning author Hoda Barakat speaking at Abu Dhabi International Book Fair 2018. Publishing Perspectives’ post-win interview with Barakat is here. Image: ADIBF
By Publishing Perspectives Staff
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Publishing Perspectives readers will remember, the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature this year staged many of its events in physical formats in Dubai, with extensive digital streaming, as the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair now is doing. The festival drew 117,000 attendees.
Notebooks of the Bookseller.
The novel, published by The Arabic Institute for Research and Publishing, was named this year’s winner of the prize during an online ceremony on Tuesday.
Besides receiving a monetary prize of $50,000, Barjas will also be given funding towards securing an English translation of his novel.
«أقسى أشكال الوجع أن يكتشف الواحد منا أن حياته تشكلت على نحو لم تكن لنا يد فيه، كنت ترابا نقياً من الحصى فعجنه والدي بماء الخوف، خوف لا أدري للآن كيف تلبسه حيال كل شيء.» دفاتر الورّاق، جلال برجس pic.twitter.com/NX8gE34I6d Habiba Alaya (@Booklovers tn) May 10, 2021
Notebooks of the Bookseller is set in Jordan and Moscow between 1947 and 2019. It tells the story of Ibrahim, a bookseller and voracious reader, who loses his shop and finds himself homeless and diagnosed with schizophrenia. He begins to
The longlisted works address important issues facing the Arab world today, from the spread of extremist organisations to the position of women.
Chosen novelists are aged between 31 and 75 and hail from 11 countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen.
The longlist was chosen by a panel of five judges chaired by Lebanese poet and author Chawki Bazih.
Judging alongside Bazih are Mohammed Ait Hanna, a Moroccan writer, translator and lecturer of philosophy at the Regional Centre for Teaching Careers and Training in Casablanca; Safa Jubran, a lecturer of Arabic Language and Modern Literature at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil; Ali