The International Prize for Arabic Fiction’s 2016 longlist — which features 16 novels written by authors from nine countries — was released this morning:
Two previously shortlisted novelists are on the 2016 list: Palestinian writer Rabai al-Madhoun and Egyptian Mohamed Mansi Qandil, both of whom appeared on the IPAF’s 2010 shortlist.
The prize, popularly known as the “Arabic Booker,” won’t reveal the list of five judges until the shortlist is made public on February 9 in Muscat, Oman. But in this morning’s news release, the still-anonymous judging chair praised the 16 books, which she or he said deal “with their subjects in fresh and unconventional ways…using experimental language.”
Yasir Suleiman, chair of the prize’s Board of Trustees, called the novels “technically mature and sometimes demanding.”
Two writers made the list with a debut novel. Both were Moroccans: Tareq Bakari (with Numedia) and Abdennour Mezzine (with Letters of the Storm). The release boasts that three longlisted writers are under the age of 40, although it doesn’t mention that just two of the 16 longlisted writers are women.
An excerpt of Mohamed Rabie’s longlisted Otared, or Mercury, is already available in translation by Robin Moger.
The full list:
| Title | Author | Country of origin | Publisher |
| Here | Taleb Alrefai (@talrefai1) | Kuwait | Platinum Books |
| Hymns of Temptation | Laila al-Atrash (@AlAtrashLaila) | Palestine/Jordan | Difaf Publications |
| Numedia | Tareq Bakari | Morocco | Dar al-Adab |
| The Temple of Silken Fingers | Ibrahim Farghali (@IbrahimFarghali) | Egypt | Al-Ikhtilef
|
| People of the Palms | Janan Jasim Halawi | Iraq | Saqi Books |
| Mariam’s Journey | Mahmoud Hasan al-Jasim | Syria | Dar Tanweer, Egypt |
| Desertified Waters | Hazim Kamaledin (@hazim_kamaledin) | Iraq | Fadaat |
| Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Nakba | Rabai al-Madhoun (@rmadhoun). Read sbout his previously shortlisted novel, The Lady of Tel Aviv. | Palestine | Maktabat Kul Shee
|
| Letters of the Storm | Abdennour Mezzine | Morocco | Slaiki Akhawayn Publications |
| Warsaw a Little While Ago | Ahmed Muhsin | Lebanon | Hachette Antoine |
| The Prophecy of Saqqa | Hamed al-Nazir | Sudan | Dar Tanweer, Tunis |
| The Black Brigade | Mohamed Mansi Qandil | Egypt | Dar al-Shorouq |
| Mercury | Mohamed Rabie (@MohRabie78) | Egypt | Dar Tanweer, Lebanon |
| Praise for the Women of the Family | Mahmoud Shukair | Palestine | Hachette Antoine |
| A Sky Close to Our House | Shahla Ujayli (@ShahlaUjayli) | Syria | Difaf Publications |
| The Guard of the Dead | George Yaraq | Lebanon | Difaf Publications |
Jews and Christians in Palestine under Muslim rule – http://wp.me/p5sKku-J