Works by Mansoura Ez Eldin, Mamdouh Azzam, Moncef Ouhaïbi Make SZBA Literature Shortlist

Organizers for the Emirati Sheikh Zayed Book Award today announced shortlists in their literature, young author, and children’s-literature categories:

In the “literature” category, judges chose a collection of interconnected short stories, a novel, and a poetry collection, all by acclaimed and multi-award-winning authors:

Egyptian author Mansoura Ez Eldin’s The Refuge of Absence; a collection of interconnected short stories (2018)

Syrian writer Mamdouh Azzam’s The Souls of Honeyed Rocks; the story of three friends (2018)

Tunisian poet Moncef Ouhaïbi’s The Penultimate Cup; a collection of poems (2019)

Meanwhile, the “young author” category was made up of a novel and two academic stories: Kuwaiti novelist Bothayna al-Essa’s All Things(2017),  as well as studies in Islamic theology and the literature of Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi.

The children’s-literature shortlist was made up of works by two Emirati writers (Nadia AlNajjar and Maryam Saqer Al Qasim) and the well-known Palestinian author Ibtisam Barakat. The three books were: My Wondrous Outing with Uncle Salem (2019) by AlNajjar, The Lilac Girl (2019) by Barakat, and The Water Seller (2019) by Al Qasimi.

Ibtisam Barakat has two previous works in English: Tasting the Sky, a memoir, and Balcony on the Moon, a YA memoir.

According to organizers, a total of 1900 entries were subbed this year; 438 for the literature category, 498 for the young-author category, and 205 in children’s literature.

Also read, Ez Eldin:

Egypt’s Literary Gems: Mansoura Ez-Eldin’s The Refuge of Absence

Mansoura Ez Eldin’s ‘Shadow Specters,’ Between History and Imagination

An Excerpt from Mansoura Ez Eldin’s ‘Emerald Mountain’

Mansoura Ez-Eldin: ‘The Limbo of Sounds’

Also read, Ouhaïbi:

Moncef Ouahibi’s “If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler,” trans. Sinan Antoon

Also read, Azzam:

Finnegan’s List Success: ‘The Shell’ and ‘Ascension to Death’ To Appear in English in 2016