Sawiris Shortlist for Established Writers, Announcement of Winners Delayed

On Sunday, the Sawiris Foundation announced that the ceremony for this year’s Sawiris Cultural Award — usually a major event on January’s literary calendar — will be pushed back to April. Organizers also published shortlists for several more categories, including the novel and short-story collection categories for established writers:

The shortlists in the “Emerging Writer” categories were announced mid-December, and included celebrated writers such as Donia Kamal, Charles Akl, Nora Nagi, and Amgad El-Sabban.

On Sunday, the Sawiris Foundation announced their decision to delay the award event — in accordance with government guidelines on restricting social gatherings — and announced the shortlists in their “Established Writer” categories online.

In the “best novel” category, there were two titles that had already been on International Prize for Arabic Fiction longlists: The Earthen Fortress by Ahmed Abdel Latif and The Mexican Wife by Iman Yehia.

The “best novel” category also included two books that made this year’s “Arab Voices” list: The House of the Copt, by Ashraf al-Ashmawi, and French Clouds by Doha Assy.

The two remaining books in the “best novel” category were A New Funeral for Emad Hamdy, by Wahid Al Tawila, and Chemistry by Walid Alaa El-din.

In the “short-story collection” category, there were also several acclaimed writers, including Mohammed Abdel-Nabi (with Kan Ya Ma Kan). Other short-story collections on the list were Eman Sanad’s The Swarm, Samir al-Fil’s Bus #77, Sherif Abdel-Meguied’s The Caliphate’s Solo, and Muhammad Ibrahim Taha’s The Princess the Common Man.

In the “playtexts” category were Khaled Hassouna’s Farewell to Notre Dame, El-Sayed Ibrahim’s Ottoman Cabaret, Faisal Rezk’s Tales of the Puppet, Hany Mostafa Qadry’s The Metro Girl, and and Faisal Rezk’s Bernatanya.

Those shortlisted in the “literary criticism” category were Ahmed Adel El-Qadaby, Sameh Fayez, Abdel-Nasser Helal, and Emad Hassieb.

See those in the emerging-writer categories at Organizers Announce ‘Emerging Writer’ Shortlists for 2020 Sawiris Cultural Awards.