Almultaqa Prize Announces 5-book Shortlist for 2018

Organizers of the Kuwait-based Almultaqa Prize for the Arabic Short Story announced their shortlist this morning:

Chair of this year’s jury, Kuwaiti critic Suad Alenzi, said, in a prepared release, that members of the jury were in agreement about the five-book shortlist.

The shortlisted collections are:

The Invention of Pain, by Algerian writer Mohammed Jaafar

Kunkaan, by Iraqi writer Saad Mohammed Raheem

There are No Windmills in Basra, by Iraqi writer Diaa Jubaili

A Haven for Absence, by Egyptian novelist and short-story writer Mansoura Ez-Eldin

Are You Buying My Clothes, by Saudi poet and short-story writer Balqis al-Melhem

Dr. Alenzi added, in the release, that the collections were dominated by war and its effects, particularly in the work of Saad Mohammed Raheem, Diaa Jubaili, and Balqis al-Melhem.

Judges are expected to announce the winner on December 3, in Kuwait. The winner takes $20,000, while each author on the shortlist receives $5,000.

More about each of the shortlisted books at Almultaqa’s website.