Sawiris Prize Announces Its 2019 ‘Young Writer’ Shortlists

Yesterday evening, Egypt’s prestigious Sawiris Prize announced shortlists in its young writer categories, both for the novel and short-story collection:

In the novel category, the five-book shortlist was made up of:

جوائز للأبطال (Awards for Heroes), by Ahmed Awny

تشيخوف و السيدة صاحبة الشيواوا (Chekhov and the Lady with the Chihuahua), by Sherif Abdel Samad

 ليلة يلدا (Yalda Night), by Ghada Al-Absi

درب الإمبابي (El Embaby’s Path), by Muhammed Abdallah

المقاعد الخلفية (Back Seats), by Nahla Karam

In the short-story category, there were also five titles, one of which — Ahmed El Derini’s — was also longlisted for this year’s Almultaqa Prize:

قميص تكويه امرأتان (A Shirt Being Ironed by Two Women), by Ahmed El Derini

أفلام عبده باراديزو.. الشركة السرية  (Abdo Paradiso Films…The Secret Company), by Muhammad Othman Al-Fandi

تقرير عن الرفاعية (Report on al-Refaiya), by Mohamed El Fouly

مسيح باب زويلة, by Mustafa Zaki

زار (Zar), by Heba Khamees

The shortlist for the emerging-author screenplay category was also announced. Winners are set to be announced January 10, 2020, at the Grand Theater of the Cairo Opera House.

You can read excerpts of two of the shortlisted novels:

ArabLit: An Excerpt of Sherif Abdel Samad’s ‘Chekhov and the Lady with the Chihuahua’, tr. Abdel Samad

MadaMasr: An Excerpt from Prizes for Heroes, by Ahmed Awny, tr. Zainab Magdy