Banipal Translation Prize Announces 2024’s 6-book Shortlist

DECEMBER 2, 2024 — Organizers today announced the six-book shortlist of the 2024 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation. 

The shortlisted works reflect both the widening scope of Arabic literature being published in English translation and the new publishers showing an interest in Arabic literature in translation. McSweeney’s, Balestier, and Dar Arab all have titles on the shortlist for the first time.

The complete shortlist:

Before the Queen Falls Asleep by Huzama Habayeb, translated by Kay Heikkinen (MacLehose Press, 2024)
 
Edo’s Souls by Stella Gaitano, translated by Sawad Hussain (Dedalus, 2023)
 
Lost in Mecca by Bothayna Al-Essa, translated by Nada Faris (Dar Arab for Publishing and Translation, 2024)

Rotten Evidence by Ahmed Naji, translated by Katharine Halls (McSweeney’s, 2023)

Traces of Enayat by Iman Mersal, translated by Robin Moger (And Other Stories, 2023)

Yoghurt and Jam (or How My Mother Became Lebanese) by Lena Merhej, translated by Nadiyah Abdullatif and Anam Zafar (Balestier Press, 2023)

The selected books were chosen from among 19 entries by 14 different publishers; according to the judges’ report, the diversity on the shortlist “reflects that of this year’s entries, which included three poetry collections, two short story collections and a YA historical novel alongside other novels.

In a shift this year, five of the six shortlisted entries were written by women. Moreover, the judges note, “three of them deal explicitly with motherhood and the mother-child relationship, while a fourth charts the psychological collapse of a father and mother whose child is kidnapped. That said, all the works reflect universal concerns through specific local contexts and visions.”

The judges further noted that while three of the selections were unanimous (Lost in Mecca, Rotten Evidence, and Traces of Enayat) the others were part of a “lengthy debate.”

This year’s four-person judging panel was chaired by translator Raphael Cohen, and also included TLS editor Michael Caines and translators Laura Watkinson and Nariman Youssef.

In-depth commentary on each of the shortlisted titles is available at the Banipal Prize website.

The prize, an annual award of £3,000, goes to the translator or translators of a “full-length imaginative and creative Arabic work of literary merit published after, or during, the year 1967 and first published in English translation in the year prior to the award.” The Prize aims to raise the profile of contemporary Arabic literature, in addition to honoring the work of individual translators. It was the first prize in the world for published Arabic literary translation into English and was first awarded in 2006.

The winner of the 2024 prize is set to be announced on January 8, 2025.