By Edward Nawotka
The shortlist for the $60,000 International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2010 (IPAF) — better known colloquially as “The Arabic Booker” — was as announced on Tuesday at the Beirut International Book Fair in Lebanon.
The shortlist of six represents submissions from five countries:
Egypt: A Cloudy Day on the West Side by Muhammad Al-Mansi Qindeel (Dar Al-Shorouk) and Beyond Paradise by Mansoura Ez Eldin (Dar Al-Ain, Egypt)
Lebannon: America by Rabee Jabir (Al-Markaz al-Thaqafi al-Arabi [Arab Cultural Centre])
Saudi Arabia: She Throws Sparks by Abdo Khal (Al-Jamal Publications)
Palestine: The Lady from Tel Aviv by Raba’i Madhoun (Arab Institute for Publishing and Studies)
Jordan: When the Wolves Grow Old by Jamal Naji (Ministry of Culture Publications)
The prize, now in its third year, honors works published in Arabic. The winner recieves $50,000, in addition to the $10,000 given to each shortlisted author.
Now in its third year, the IPAF has introduced a handful of new Arabic language writers to the West. The winner of the 2008 prize, Sunset Oasis by Egyptian novelist Bahaa Taher, has recently been published in the UK by Sceptre (an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton). Rights for the book have also been sold in France, Germany, Norway, Greece Romania, Bosnia and Canada.
Last year’s winner — Azazelby Egyptian writer Youssef Ziedan — will be published in the UK by Atlantic Books in spring 2010. Translation deals are also concluded for Italian, German, Greek, Romanian, Bosnian and Croatian
2 Comments
I’m a Palestinian writer and poet but my deadly sin is that I’m an Israeli citizen since 1948 which means that I’m considered a bastard in the Arabic world and in Israel. That’s why I have started to write in English recently to find new readers and to try to convey my messages to the world. I have finished writing a book of poetry and a romamace novel, however, I’ve been searching for an agent to represent me but to no avail. Although I’ve contacted hundreds of them they decline to represent me for all kinds of reasons. I can understand them. They don’t like the challenge. To write a romance novel about a Palestinian mam and an Israeli woman who meet at a peace activity and fall in love with each other despite the historical, political, social, cultural differences seems to be of no concern to others. Nobody thinks that such a love affair can take place though it’s real but no one wants to interfere or have anything to do with such a novel. To tell the truth and to show what bad effects a bloody conflict, such as the Israeli-Arab conflict can have on ordinary people is of no interest to anybody. people want crime novels they pay as they say. But this romance novel of mine is universal. Change the names and the settings and it can happen everywhere where conflicts between people still exist. Strange real love stories happened in the past and they do happen and will happen to in the future. Who wants to listen?
Dear Ossama
I am sorry to tel you that you are absolutely wrong. Assayeda min Tel Abib is not about love. It is not a romance novel. It is not any thing of that.
please visit Maktabt kul she2 in Haifa, get the novel, read it first, then write to me. my email is: almadhoun2000@hotmail.com
Until then please read this:
The Lady from Tel Aviv – Raba’i Madhoun
Arab Institute for Publishing and Studies, Beirut, 2009
In The Lady from Tel Aviv, Raba’i Madhoun tackles the Arab/Palestinian-Israeli issue, focusing on a pivotal time of anxiety and suspicion, with tensions on the point of boiling over. The novel’s protagonists are Palestinian exile Walid Dahman, who is returning home to Gaza after many years in Europe, and Israeli Dana Ahuva, who happens to be sitting next to him on their flight into Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion Airport. Their dialogue takes the reader into the far realms of memory, history and the self. The Lady from Tel Aviv is a novel that, in its complexity, intricacy and ambiguity, avoids the dogma of ready-made ideology.
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[...] The ADIBF’s cultural program includes a wide variety of international authors, who will be speaking and signing books, including Azar Nafisi (Reading Lolita in Tehran), Adam Haslett (Union Atlantic), popular Algerian novelist Ahlam Mosteghanemi, as well as Amit Chaudhuri, Pankaj Mishra, and Yann Martel, whose new novel, Beatrice and Virgil is due in April. At last year’s Fair, Rajaa Alsanea, the young Saudi author of the runaway hit Girls of Riyadh, was mobbed by adoring fans, and Krauss fully expects the same enthusiastic response for Azar Nafisi this year. Additionally, the winner of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (known as “the Arab Booker”) will be announced on the Fair’s opening day, March 2. (See the shortlisted six here.) [...]