Six authors – Tareq Bakari, Rabai al-Madhoun, Mohamed Rabie, Mahmoud Shukair, Shahla Ujayli and George Yaraq have been shortlisted for the 2016 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF). Their names were revealed by a judging panel chaired by Emirati poet and academic Amina Thiban at a press conference hosted by The Cultural Club in Muscat, Oman.
The shortlist includes Moroccan author Tareq Bakari’s Numedia (Dar al-Adab); Palestinian author Rabai al-Madhoun’s Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Nakba (Dar al-Adab); Egyptian author Mohamed Rabie’s Mercury (Dar Tanweer, Lebanon); Palestinian author Mahmoud Shukair’s Praise for the Women of the Family (Hachette Antoine); Syrian author Shahla Ujayli’s A Sky Close to Our House (Difaf Publications) and Lebanese author George Yaraq’s The Guard of the Dead (Difaf Publications).
The 2016 judges are – Amina Thiban (chair), an Emirati poet and academic specializing in literature; Sayyed Mahmoud, an Egyptian journalist and poet, who is currently editor of Al-Qahira; 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.
The novels selected were chosen from 159 entries from 18 countries, all published within the last 12 months.
This is the ninth year of the prize, which is recognized as the leading prize for literary fi ction in the Arab world. IPAF will take place in Oman in late February, when 2013 winner Saud Alsanousi will take part in the Muscat International Book Fair and an event with students at Sultan Qaboos University.
The winner of the IPAF 2016 will be announced at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on 26 April, the eve of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. The six shortlisted fi nalists will receive US$ 10,000, with a further US$ 50,000 going to the winner.
