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Winner of 2023 ArabLit Story Prize an ‘Elegant and Evocative Translation’ that Gives New Life to a ‘Timeless Tale’

Today, we make a delayed announcement that the winners of the 2023 ArabLit Story Prize are Dima El Mouallem and Ibrahim al-Koni, for El Mouallem’s translation of al-Koni’s “The Desert Also Keened” (طائر النحس الذهبي).

El Mouallem was previously shortlisted in 2021, for her translation of Said Takieddine’s short story “Camphor Forestland” (غابة الكافور).

This year’s three judges decided, after reviewing the stories on 2022’s three-strong shortlist, to award the top prize to “The Desert Also Keened,” with the judges remarking on its timeless, mythological aspects, expertly translated by Dima El Mouallem. As judge Yasmine Zohdi said:
“In her elegant and evocative translation, Dima El Mouallem gives new life to Ibrahim al-Koni’s timeless tale of temptation and grief; of tragedy wrought by the collision of two opposing realms never meant to intersect.”

This year’s other two judges were short-story writerMuhammad El-Hajj, and translator and scholar Shakir Mustafa. Al-Hajj commented:

A memorable fable of motherhood and loss, this exquisite piece of prose by Ibrahim al-Koni has found its match in Dima El-Mouallem’s expertly crafted translation.
While Mustafa said:

The story spins a myriad of mythologies about seeming and being, and ends up shaking the illusions of a gilded but harmful iconography.

The prize, now in its sixth year, is collectively funded by ArabLit’s Patreon supporters. The $500 prize is split between author and translator.

Previous winners of the ArabLit Story Prize are: Robin Moger translating Muhammad Abdelnabi (2018), Sawad Hussain translating Najwa Bin Shatwan (2019), Shakir Mustafa translating Hadiya Hussain (2020), Maisaa Tanjour & Alice Holttum translating Mustafa Taj Aldeen Almosa (2021), and James Scanlan translating Belal Fadl (2022).

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