The Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation and the Arab World Institute have announced the seven finalists for the 2018 Prix de la Littérature Arabe:
The Prix de la Littérature Arabe, launched in 2013, is awarded every year to the best Arab work written in French or translated into the language. This year’s list:
1. Nos Richesses, de Kaouther Adimi (Seuil)
2. L’Ombre du soleil, de Taleb Alrefai, tr. Moncef Khemiri (Actes Sud) ;
3. Un Jeune Homme en colère, de Salim Bachi (Gallimard) ;
4. La Minette de Sikirida, de Rachid El-Daïf, tr. Lotfi Nia (Actes Sud) ;
5. Les Femmes de Karantina, de Nael Eltoukhy, tr. Khaled Osman (Actes Sud) ;
6. La Ville gagne toujours, d’Omar Robert Hamilton, tr. Sarah Gurcel (Gallimard) ;
7. Des Ailes au loin, de Jadd Hilal (Elyzad).
Of the books, Women of Karantina is in English translation by Robin Moger, and Omar Robert Hamilton’s The City Always Wins was originally written in English.
Winning authors receive a 10,000 euro prize.
The jury is set to meet this fall, led by judging chair Pierre Leroy, with a winner announced at the end of October.
Previous editions of the award have gone to Jabbour Douaihy (2013), Mohamed al-Fakharany (2014), Mohammed Hasan Alwan (2015), Inaam Kachachi (2016), and Sinan Antoon (2017) for his novel The Pomegranate Alone, which was translated into English as The Corpse Washer.
