Abu Dhabi, 10th March 2009 (WAM) The winner of the second International Prize for Arabic Fiction will be announced at a gala Awards Ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Monday, March 16, 2009.
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) is a prestigious literary prize which rewards excellence in contemporary Arabic creative writing, encourages wider readership of quality Arabic literature worldwide, and develops exchanges between Arab and Western publishers and writers. IPAF is specifically for prose fiction and each of the six authors shortlisted below receives $10,000. An additional $50,000 will go to the overall winner. This year more than 121 published novels in Arabic were entered into the competition from 16 countries. The names of the six shortlisted titles and authors for this prize were announced in London on December 10, by the Chair of the Judges, Lebanese academic, writer, editor and critic Youmna el Eid. On Monday night, she and the four other members of the independent judging panel will declare the overall winner to an international audience of writers, publishers, intellectuals and journalists. The IPAF 2009 shortlist (with names in English) and authors (with country of origin), is as follows:Egyptian Mohammed Al Bisatie for his novel Hunger, Syrian Fawwaz Haddad for his work The Unfaithful Translator, Iraqi Inaam Kachachi for her novelThe American Granddaughter, Jordanian Ibrahim Nasrallah for his novel Time of White Horses, Tunisian Al-Habib Al-Salmi for The Scents of Marie-Claire,and Egyptian Yusuf Zeydan for his Beelzebub. The Managing Director of the Emirates Foundation, Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh said: "The Emirates Foundation is delighted to be supporting the IPAF prize for the second year in a row. We are glad that this prize will help introduce new readers to Arabic fiction in the original and in translation and to Arab culture as a whole."Joumana Haddad, the Prize Administrator, added: "The remarkable success of the 2008 IPAF and the many translation deals secured for all six authors as a result, is yet another stimulus for IPAF to develop new ways to promote Arabic literature. For 2009, the competition has grown even stronger as the reputation of the prize has grown throughout the Arab world." IPAF was launched in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE, in April 2007 and the first ever prize was awarded in the city last March. The prize is awarded annually by the IPAF Board of Trustees, in association with the UKs respected Booker Prize Foundation, and with the financial support of the Emirates Foundation of the UAE.Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2009.
