Cairo Book Fair’s Best Novel Award to Taher el-Sharkawy; Fair Extended Through Saturday

Although the Cairo International Book Fair has been extended until Feb. 9, in hopes that publishers can make up for lost sales, the fair nonetheless held its closing ceremony Tuesday and awarded 10 book prizes in 10 categories: novels, short stories, poetry, colloquial poetry, arts, sciences, humanities, political books, heritage, and children’s books. There was also a “best publisher” prize:

Each prize was worth 10,000 LE.

The most controversial award was to ex-Muslim Brotherhood leader Tharwat El-Kherebawy for his The Secret of the Temple; it won “best political book.”

The best-novel award went to young writer Taher El-Sharkawy, who took the prize for his novel He Who Raises a Stone in His House, published by Kotob Khan Books.

The best short story collection went to Mohamed Ibrahim Taha for his collection A Woman Under the Balcony, published by the General Egyptian Book Organization, the entity that organizes the fair.

The best poetry collection went to An Apple That Doesn’t Understand a Thing, by Guirgis Choukri, also published by the General Egyptian Book Organization.

The best colloquial poetry collection award went to Slowly by Ahmed Amin Haddad, published by Dar Al-Ain.

The best publisher award went to Iqraa Publishing House.

The full list of winners at Ahram Online.