They’ve already got the Louvre; they’ll soon have a Guggenheim Museum as well – and now the Emirates have added literature to their quest for cultural supremacy in the Arab world. Stefan Weidner reports from Abu Dhabi, from the first book fair of this year to take place in person
At Abu Dhabi International Book Fair: Salha Obaid on Fact and Fiction
The Emirati writer explores the rapid changes in her country in recent decades, with factual research as a foundation for her fiction.
Salha Obaid
By Chip Rossetti
‘People Inspire Me’
The Emirati novelist Salha Obaid says that she has given some thought to how fiction including her own work treats the past.
Obaid is a speaker on Thursday (May 27) at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, and will be talking about the relationship between historical fiction and historical fact. She also speaks today at the book fair, a conversation with Iman Mersal, the Egyptian winner of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award this year in literature for her creative nonfiction. [Our
but flashing glances
but that can do
what must be done.
– Iman Mersal, ‘I Look Around Me,’ translated by Khaled Mattawa, Words Without Borders, January 2006, used here by permission
Today (May 25), Mersal is among the Sheikh Zayed Book Award program’s most adamantly acclaimed laureates, welcomed as the 2021 winner in Literature for her creative nonfiction work
Fee Athar Enayat Al-Zayyat (In the Footsteps of Enayat Al-Zayyat), published in 2019 by Al Kotob Khan Library.
The French Edition, Actes Sud/Sindbad, the Arab Library
In April, Actes Sud’s Sindbad Arab Library published
Sur les traces d’Enayat Zayyat, a translation into French by Richard Jacquemond. An English edition reportedly is in progress.
Abu Dhabi: Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award held a hybrid ceremony on Monday evening to honour the winners of its 15th edition. The ceremony was held on the sidelines of the 30th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Centre (Adnec) in the presence of a number of officials, writers and winners.
This year, the award has surpassed its former records for entries with a 23 per cent increase of submissions totaling 2,349 nominations. Since its launch in 2006, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award has inducted 106 winners and received 19,000 nominations from 71 countries for its nine categories. The Award’s total value is Dh7 million.
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