No Award in 2019: Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature

AUC Press has announced on their website that there will be no 2019 award given out by the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature:

They write:

In keeping with the forward-looking aims of the 2019–20 celebrations of the American University in Cairo, and anticipating the sixtieth anniversary of the American University in Cairo Press in 2020–21, AUC Press is working to develop the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature further, in order to enhance the prize’s prestigious international reputation in promoting Arabic fiction in translation around the world.

With plans for the future of the award already in motion, the decision has been made not to announce a winner for the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature this year. Submissions for the award made by authors and publishers for this year will be automatically rolled over to next year’s award.

Further information concerning the new submissions’ requirements and changes to the award will be announced soon.

The prize had announced earlier in the year that they were switching to a shortlist system and increasing the monetary reward to $3000 a year. The winner has traditionally been announced on December 11, the anniversary of Mahfouz’s birth.

Previous winners:

2018: Omaima Al-Khamis, Voyage of the Cranes in the Cities of Agate

2017: Huzama Habayeb’s, Velvet, translated by Kay Heikkenen

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

2010: Miral al-Tahawy, Brooklyn Heights, translated by Samah Selim

2009: Khalil Sweileh, Writing Love, translated by Alexa Firat

2008: Hamdi Abu Golayyel, A Dog with No Tail, translated by Robin Moger

2007: Amina Zaydan, Red Wine, translated by Sally Gomaa

2006: Sahar Khalifeh, The Image, the Icon, and the Covenant, translated by Aida Bamia

2005: Yusuf Abu Rayya, Wedding Night, translated by Neil Hewison

2004: Alia Mamdouh, The Loved Ones, translated by Marilyn Booth

2003: Khairy Shalaby, The Lodging House, translated by Farouk Abdel Wahab

2002: Bensalem Himmich, The Polymath, translated by Roger Allen

2001: Somaya Ramadan, Leaves of Narcissus, translated by Marilyn Booth

2000: Hoda Barakat, The Tiller of Waters, translated by Marilyn Booth

1999: Edwar al-Kharrat, Rama and the Dragon, translated by Ferial Ghazoul and John Verlenden

1998: Ahlam Mosteghanemi, Memory in the Flesh, translated by Peter Clark

1997: Mourid Barghouti, I Saw Ramallah, translated by Ahdaf Soueif; and Yusuf Idris, City of Love and Ashes, translated by Neil Hewison

1996: Ibrahim Abdel Meguid, The Other Place, translated by Farouk Abdel Wahab; and Latifa al-Zayyat, The Open Door, translated by Marilyn Booth