DECEMBER 16, 2023 — Yesterday, the Sawiris Foundation announced the shortlists for its 2024 emerging writers and screenwriting awards. The prize is in its nineteenth year.
The five-book shortlist for the best novel award for emerging writers includes: Ahmed Naji’s Happy Endings, Talal Faisal’s The Forest and the Cage, Karoline Kamel’s Victoria, Maryam Abdel Aziz’s There Where the River Ends, and Heba Khamsis’s American Homes.
The shortlist for the best short-story collection, in the emerging writer category, is made up of: Ahmed Fouad El-Din’s Space to Maneuver, Islam Ahmed’s A Personal Portrait of Death, Basma Naji’s Archive of Replicas, Karim Mohsen’s This Is Not Your Room, and Hind Jaafar’s The Days of Samir Homs.
The best screenplay shortlist is: Ahmed Ehab Abdel-Wareth’s “The Joys and Sorrows of the Girls’ House,” Ahmed Essam’s “Moon Dust,” Khaled Mansour’s “Searching for a Way Out for Mr. Rambo,” Khairy Al-Fakharani’s “Once Upon a Time in Cairo,” Ali Sayed Muhammad’s “Assassination of the Sheriff.”
According to organizers, they received 1,202 submissions this year for all the awards’ categories; winners are set to be announced at a ceremony on January 8,2024.