The Complete List: Entries for the 2017 Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation

Organizers of the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation have announced a major change to this year’s leading literary prize for Arabic translation into English:

They write:

Many people ask us what translations are entered for the prize, and so for the last few years we have been listing the eligible entries, as we are doing this year, with the title and author of the book, the translator and publisher named and a small image of the front cover. They are listed in order of family name of the translator.

This year for the first time, we will be announcing a short list in December, following the judges’ meeting in late November. The winner will be announced mid-January 2018 as usual, with the award ceremony being held towards the end of February 2018, as usual.

Below are the eligible entries for this year’s Prize. The judging panel has the right to call in a title that they know of and is eligible but that has not been entered.

The translators (in order of family name) are Alexander E Elinson, Huda Fakhreddine and Jayson Iwen, Sarah Enamy, Katharine Halls and Adam Talib, Michelle Hartman (2 works), Elisabeth Jaquette, Robin Moger (2 works), Leri Price, Ran Saifi, Jonathan Smolin, Anna Ziajka Stanton, Paul Starkey, Nirvana Tanoukhi, Samuel Wilder, and Jonathan Wright.

The 2017 judging panel is made up of judging chair Alastair Niven, Peter Kalu, Wen-chin Ouyang, and Salam Sarhan.

The list of titles entered thus far includes a number of remarkable translations — it is a crime, for instance, that the work Samuel Wilder did on Describing the Past hasn’t yet received recognition. Among the 17 listed, there are two I haven’t seen: Lighthouse for the Drowning and Between Two Wives.

A Beautiful White Cat Walks With Me by Youssef Fadel, translated by Alexander E Elinson(Hoopoe)

Menorahs and Minarets by Kamal Rahayymi, translated by Sarah Enamy (Hoopoe)

Lighthouse for the Drowning by Jawdat Fakhreddine, translated by Huda Fakhreddine and Jayson Iwen (BOA Editions Ltd)

The Dove’s Necklace by Raja Alem, translated by Katharine Halls and Adam Talib(Duckworth)

The Ninety-Ninth Floor by Jana Fawaz Elhassan, translated by Michelle Hartman (Interlink Books)

The Weight of Paradise by Iman Humaydan, translated by Michelle Hartman (Interlink Books)

The Queue by Basma Abdel Aziz, translated by Elisabeth Jaquette (Melville House UK)

Otared by Mohammed Rabie, translated by Robin Moger (Hoopoe)

The Book of Safety by Yasser Abdel Hafez, translated by Robin Moger (Hoopoe)

No Knives in the Kitchens of This City by Khaled Khalifa, translated by Leri Price (Hoopoe)

Between Two Wives by Hussain Ali Lootah, translated by Ran Saifi (Motivate)

A Rare Blue Bird Flies with Me by Youssef Fadel, translated by Jonathan Smolin (Hoopoe)

Limbo Beirut by Hilal Chouman, translated by Anna Ziajka Stanton (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Univ. Texas Press)

The Shell by Mustafa Khalifa, translated by Paul Starkey (Interlink Books)

Maryam: Keeper of Stories by Alawiya Sobh, translated by Nirvana Tanoukhi (Seagull Books)

Describing the Past by Ghassan Zaqtan, translated by Samuel Wilder (Seagull Books)

The Longing of the Dervish by Hammour Ziada, translated by Jonathan Wright (Hoopoe)