Poetic, Experimental, Young: Inaugural Almultaqa Prize Shortlist
Al-Multaqa Prize for the Short Story has announced its inaugural shortlist, with an emphasis on vigorous, young, experimental writing with a mythological twist:
The new Kuwait-based prize is unique in its dedication to Arabic short-story collections, promising $20,000 and translation into English for its winner.
The five-strong shortlist, announced yesterday, included Mazen Maarouf‘s “Nokat lil-Musalaheen” (“Jokes for the Gunmen”); Mohamed Rafie‘s “Asal al-Nun”; Lutf al-Sarary‘s “Al-Raja’ Adam al-Qasf” (“Please Don’t Bomb”); Anis Arafai’s “Masahat al-Dumi” (“Clinic for Dolls”); and Khadija Alnemer’s “Al-Afkar al-Sabeha Bayn al-Sama’ w al-Ard” (“Ideas Hanging Between Earth and Sky”).
There were 189 collections in contention for the prize, sent in from 15 different countries. That was whittled down to a ten-book longlist announced a month ago, and now to a five-book shortlist.
Egyptian short-story writer and novelist Mohamed Rafie has previously taken a major prize for his short-story writing: the 2012 Sawiris prize for young writers for his short-story collection The Splendor of Water. An Al Hayat review called the stories in this latest collection “stories of place and mythology.”
Experimental Moroccan short-story writer Anis Arafai participated in the International Prize for Arabic Fiction writers’ workshop and has won the Gutenberg Prize. Fellow short-story writer Hisham Bustani called Arafai’s short stories “innovative, relentless, and an agitation to the imagination.”
A few of Arafai’s stories have been translated into English, including “The Leg,” translated by Emma Ramadan and “Minouche,” translated by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp.
Debut Palestinian-Icelandic short-story writer Mazen Maarouf is celebrated poet with three collections. His poems have been translated into at least seven languages. Jokes for the Gunmen was his debut short-story collection. His wonderfully strange, incantatory short story “The Boxes” was included in Beirut Noir, edited by Iman Humaydan and translated by Michelle Hartman.
Yemeni journalist and short-story writer Lutf al-Sarary debuted in 2009 with the collection Like Who Smokes One Cigarette in One Breath.
Saudi writer Khadija Alnemer is the only woman on the list: Reviewers praise her poetic language, breadth of cultural and historical knowledge, diversity of times and settings, as well as her portrayal of women’s lives.
The five judges are Ahmed al-Madeeni (chair), Ezzat al-Qamhawi, Dr. Ali Ajail al-Anezi, Dr. Fadia Faqir, and Salma Saleh.
The winner is set to be announced in December at the American University of Kuwait.
Il premio letterario Multaqa del Kuwait dedicato al racconto breve arabo | editoriaraba
November 8, 2016 @ 6:35 am
[…] Per Marcia L. Qualey di Arablit, questa shortlist inaugurale rivela “un focus privilegiato sulla scrittura giovane e sperimentale, con un guizzo mitologico”. […]