Tonight: 2018 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Arabic Literature

Tonight at 6 p.m. Cairo time, we’ll know the winner of the 2018 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Arabic Literature:

As usual, the American University in Cairo Press will announce the winner on Mahfouz’s birthday in AUC’s Oriental Hall. The Egyptian Nobel literature laureate was born on this day in 1911.

Since 1996, the Mahfouz Medal has been awarded annually to a single novel or co-winning novels, except in 2011, when it went to the “revolutionary creativity of the Egyptian people.” It consists of a silver medal, a cash prize of $1,000, and a publication deal with AUC Press.

This year’s judges are Tahia Abdel Nasser, Shereen Abouelnaga, Mona Tolba, Humphrey Davies, and Rasheed El-Enany. According to Al Ahram, Mahfouz’s living daughter, Um Kulthoum, is not planning to attend the ceremony, citing rights disagreements over the sale of Mahfouz’s work.

Last year’s winner, Huzama Habayeb’s Velvet, is set for a fall 2019 release in Kay Heikkinen’s English translation.

On last year’s winner:

Naguib Mahfouz Medal Winner Huzama Habayeb’s Full Address

A Story by Huzama Habayeb: ‘A (Somewhat) Realistic Dream’

Huzama Habayeb on the Painful Process of Writing and the Joy of Reading

4 in Translation By Naguib Mahfouz Medal Winner Huzama Habayeb

A few previous winners:

2016: Adel Esmat, Tales of Yusuf Tadrus (translated by Mandy McClure)

2015: Hassan Daoud, No Road to Paradise (translated by Marilyn Booth)

2014: Hammour Ziada, The Longing of the Dervish (translated by Jonathan Wright)

2013: Khaled Khalifa, No Knives in the Kitchens of This City (translated by Leri Price)

2012: Ezzat El Kamhawi, House of the Wolf (translated by Nancy Roberts)

2011: The Revolutionary Literary Creativity of the Egyptian People