Sawiris Award Announces Year’s Emerging-author Shortlists

Yesterday, the Sawiris Cultural Award announced its shortlists for best novel, short-story collection, and best screenplay:

The six shortlisted for the best-novel prize were: Ahmed El Fakharany,  Alaa Farghali, Mohamed Rabie, Musfafa Musa, Nahla Karam, and Hadra Girgis. The six novels:

Among the six shortlisted novels, Rabie’s Otared (2014) is already available in English (2016), translated by Robin Moger. It was also shortlisted for the 2016 International Prize for Arabic Fiction.

The six shortlisted for the short-story prize were Ahmed Magdy Hammam, Doaa’ Ibrahim, Sherine Fathi, Taha Abdul Moneim, and Mohamed Mamdouh Abdel al-Salam, and Hind Jaafar. The collections:

The winners are set to be announced January 9, 2017.

The emerging authors’ prize, granted by the Sawiris Foundation, is 80,000LE (approximately $4,300 US) for first place and 50,000LE (approximately $2,700 US) for second. This is in contrast to the single 150,000LE “established authors” award in each category.

The books in question had to be published between 2013-2015, and the emerging-writer prize is for those who are still under 40 in August 2016. To be eligible, the author must be an Egyptian national, and the work can’t have previously won an award. However, shortlisting must be within bounds.

Last year’s award honored seventeen writers. From last year’s news release:

The prize for the best novel by established writers was shared by Reda El Bahat for his novel Saa Ramleya Taamal Belkahrobaa “Sand clock working with electricity” along with novelist Wahid Taweela for his novel Bab El Leil “The Night’s Door”.

Best Short Story Collection Award for established writers was shared by Amal Radwan for her collection El Beit El Awalany “The First House” and Amr Aly El Adly for his collection Hekayet Youssef Idris “The Tales of Youssef Idris”.

The first prize for the Best Novel Award for emerging writers was shared by Ahmed Abdellatif for his novel  Ketab El Nahat “The Book of the Sculptor” and Khaled Ahmed for his novel Shark El Daery “East Ring Road”.

The second prize for the Best Novel Award for emerging writers was also shared by Ahmed Ibrahim Al Sharif for his novel Mosem El Kabak “Season of the Kabak”, and Talat Faisal for his novel “Sorour”.

Mohamed Kheir won the first prize for the Best Short Story Collection awarded to emerging writers for his collection Remsh El Ain “The Eyelash”. The second place was shared by Iman Abdul Rahim for her collection Al Hogorat “The Rooms”, and Mostafa Zaki for his collection Tَakol Al Tayer mn Rَaseh “Birds Eat From his Head”.