Congratulations to Eight Emerging Arabic Novelists Who Won 2016 AFAC Grants

Eight novelists writing in Arabic have won 2016 grants from the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC) to work with the acclaimed, award-winning Lebanese novelist Jabbour Douaihy on a fiction project:

The authors — from Egypt (2), Morocco, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Tunisia (2) — will work on various projects under the guidance of leading Lebanese novelist Jabbour Douaihy.

You can read more about their projects in Arabic and English at the AFAC website.

Previous AFAC literary grantees include Sahar Mandour (Mina), whose 32 is available in English translation from Nicole Fares; Inaam Kachachi, whose grant-winning Tashaari was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction; Hilal Chouman, whose Limbo Beirut will be released in translation this fall, by Anna Ziajka Stanton; award-winning Egyptian short story writer Tareq Emam; acclaimed Iraqi playwright and short-story writer Hassan Blasim; Iman Humaydan, whose latest novel will be available this fall in translation by Michelle Hartman; and others.

The AFAC Novel Writing Program “is a new intensive year-long training program offered by AFAC in lieu of the annual grant for literature as a response for the need to offer professional support to aspiring authors in the Arab region. The 2014 edition of the program was launched in partnership with Najwa Barakat’s Al-Mohtaraf.” The 2015 edition was supervised by Douaihy, like the 2016 edition-to-be.

Mabrukulululations to all.