This morning, the UAE ban on Shukri al-Mabkhout’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF)-winning The Italian was lifted:
Wael Abid of Dar al-Tanweer Tunis said that it was lifted this morning, the first day of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, one day after al-Mabkhout won the IPAF.
The permission that Abid received was dated to February 20, 2015.
In addition to Dar al-Tanweer, the International Prize for Arabic Fiction also had made an official statement yesterday, acknowledging the book had not been available for sale: “While we understand that The Italian is not available for retail sale in the UAE, there will be copies available at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. As a Prize, we promote literature across borders but cannot influence the availability of our titles.”