Youssef Fadel, Inaam Kachachi,
Khaled
Khalifa, Abdelrahim Lahbibi, Ahmed Mourad and Ahmed Saadawi are
today, Monday 10 February, announced as the six authors shortlisted for the
2014 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Their names were revealed at a press conference at the Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation in
Amman, Jordan, by a judging panel chaired by
Saudi Arabian academic and critic, Saad A. Albazei.
This year’s six novels are
wide-ranging in both subject matter and style. They include: a prison novel
from Morocco; a story about one family’s dispersal around the globe, from 1950s
Iraq to the modern day; a police hunt for an Iraqi Frankenstein terrorising
Baghdad; one man’s search for knowledge as he travels around North Africa and
the Middle East; the grim reality of one family’s struggle to survive in
present day Aleppo and a psychological thriller played out in a psychiatric
hospital in Cairo.
There are two Iraqi novelists
and Moroccans on the shortlist, and one author apiece from Syria and Egypt.
Two formerly shortlisted
novelists, Inaam Kachachi (The American Granddaughter, 2009) and Khaled
Khalifa (In Praise of Hatred, 2008), appear on the list, as does a
former nadwa participant, Ahmed Saadawi.
The previously
anonymous 2014 judges are: Saad A. Albazei (Chair); Ahmed Alfaitouri,
Libyan journalist, novelist and playwright; Zhor Gourram, Moroccan
academic, critic and novelist; Abdullah Ibrahim, Iraqi academic and
critic and Mehmet Hakki Suçin, Turkish academic specialising in
the teaching of Arabic language and the translation of Arabic literature into
Turkish.
The six shortlisted titles
were chosen from a longlist of 16, announced in January 2014. The novels were
selected from 156 entries from 18 countries, all published within the last 12
months.
The shortlisted
novels are,
in alphabetical order:
|
Title
|
Author
|
Nationality
|
Publisher
|
|
A Rare Blue Bird that Flies with Me
|
Youssef
Fadel
|
Moroccan
|
Dar al-Adab
|
|
Tashari
|
Inaam
Kachachi
|
Iraqi
|
Dar al-Jadid
|
|
No Knives in this City's Kitchens
|
Khaled Khalifa
|
Syrian
|
Dar al-Ain
|
|
The Journeys of 'Abdi, known as Son of Hamriya
|
Abdelrahim
Lahbibi
|
Moroccan
|
Africa East
|
|
The Blue Elephant
|
Ahmed
Mourad
|
Egyptian
|
Dar al-Shorouq
|
|
Frankenstein in Baghdad
|
Ahmed
Saadawi
|
Iraqi
|
Al-Jamal
|
Saad Albazei comments: ‘This
year’s longlist was full of excellent books – a reflection of the overall
quality of Arabic fiction published this year – so it was a real challenge to
whittle the list down to just six. The shortlisted novels are varied in their
narrative styles and language: from discovering virtual reality to the mingling
of fantasy and reality, they also include classical language and multiple
narrative voices and demonstrate the Arabic novel's ability to flower despite
the harsh realities of daily life.’
Professor
Yasir Suleiman, Chair of the Board of Trustees, comments: ‘This year's
shortlist includes a rich selection of outstanding novels, in which subject,
narrative style and atmosphere are dominated by current fragmented reality and
human suffering. There are new voices in the list who are reaching this stage
in the prize for the first time and more experienced ones who have been there
before. Despite their differences, they all have in common humanitarian
concerns and masterful storytelling, gripping and enthralling the reader.’
The
International Prize for Arabic Fiction 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 winner. It was launched in Abu Dhabi, UAE, in April
2007, and is supported by the Booker Prize Foundation in London and funded by
the TCA Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
The
winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2014 will be announced at
an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi on 29 April 2014, on the eve of the Abu Dhabi
International Book
Fair.
An English translation of the winning novel is guaranteed for the winner. To
date, two of the winning novels have appeared in English (Sunset Oasis,
Sceptre, and Azazeel, Atlantic Books); a further two (The Arch and
the Butterfly and Throwing Sparks, both Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation)
are due to be published this year.
For
further information about the Prize, please visit www.arabicfiction.org or follow the Prize on Facebook.
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