Eleven novels and two works of poetry are on the longlist for the Literature category for the 2019/2020 Sheikh Zayed Book Award. Thirteen works were selected out of 438 nominations for the 14th year of the award, with the majority of authors hailing from the UAE, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Palestine, Egypt and Lebanon.
The full longlist
Novels:
Al Hai Al Hai by Ali Al-Shaali (UAE)
Abna wa Ahtheya (Sons and Shoes) by Mohsen Al-Ramli (Iraq/Spain)
Takecardia by Amir Taj al-Ser (Sudan)
Khata Gher Maqsoud (An Unintended Mistake) by Rachid Al-Daeed (Lebanon)
Horoob Al Rohama (Wars of Mercy) by Ibrahim Issa (Egypt)
Al Maktabah Al Sereya wa Al General (The Secret Library and The General) by Khairi Al Dhahabi (Syria)
Al Karaki by Hassan Hamid (Palestine)
Mr Noon by Najwa Barakat (Lebanon)
Hay Al Dahsha (The Neighborhood of Astonishment) by Maha Hassan (Syria/France)
Ma'wa Al Gheyab (Shelter of Absence) by Mansoura Ezzedine (Egypt)
Arwah Sakhrat Al Asal (Souls of Honey Rocks) by Mamdouh Azzam (Syria)
Poetic works:
Belkas ma Qabl Al Akheera (The Penultimate Cup) by Moncef Al Wahaibi (Tunisia)
Althe'b wa ma Akhfa: Taleh Rashaeya: Al Ghazalah wa Al Zelzal (The Wolf and What It Hid) followed by (Rasha'yat: The Gazelle and the Earthquake) by Youssef Razuka (Tunisia)
A total of 1,900 nominations from 49 countries (22 Arab and 27 foreign countries) were submitted for the 14th iteration of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award across its nine categories. The two categories with the highest number of nominations were Young Author (498 nominations) followed by Literature (438 nominations).
Last year, Moroccan writer and novelist Bensalem Himmich's The Self - Between Existence and Creation won the Literature category award. The book is an autobiography in which Himmich offers glimpses into his life as a novelist and writer. He also discusses the intellectual stances he has embodied throughout his various stages of writing.
Algerian scholar Dr Abderrezak Belagrouz won the Young Author category for The Essence of Values and the Freedom of Social Concepts. Kuwaiti author Hussain Almutawaa won the Children's Literature category award for his novel I Dream of Being a Concrete Mixer. In the Literary & Art Criticism category, scholar Charbel Dagher, from Lebanon, won the award for Contemporary Arabic Poetry - the prose.
The shortlist will be announced in March 2020. For more information visit zayedaward.ae.
