Bait AlGhasham DarArab Prize Opens with New Category
MARCH 23, 2025 — The Bait AlGhasham DarArab International Translation Prize is set to open submissions tomorrow for is 2026 award. The prize, now in its third year, aims to “celebrate outstanding Arabic literature and promote its presence globally through translation.”
This year, the prize introduces a third category for published Omani works. In previous years, there was a category for translators and one for authors. In a prepared release, organizers said that, “While the first two categories remain focused on Arabic literature in general, the newly introduced category aims to elevate Omani literature on the translation map and contribute to its international reach and visibility.”
Submissions are set to be open from March 24, 2025 until July 31, 2025. Interested authors and translators can submit through DarArab’s website, in English or in Arabic.
In the prize’s first edition, Iraqi poet Yass Al-Saeedi won the Authors category for his poetry collection موجز أنباء الهواجس (Premonition News Flash), while American translator Marilyn Booth won the Translators category for her translation of Syrian author Jan Dost’s novel Safe Corridor (ممر آمن). In the second edition, Sudanese novelist Mustafa Khalid Mustafa received the Authors award for his novel ها ها.. كح كح.. نجوت بأعجوبة (Haha, Kahkah . . . By Some Miracle, I Survived) and American translator Luke Leafgren won the Translators category for his translation of The Garden (الباغ) by Omani novelist Bushra Khalfan.
Both the novella Safe Corridor and the poetry collection Premonition News Flash will be out in 2025, while this year’s winners are slated for 2026 publication.
This year, submissions of novels, short stories, and poetry collections are eligible in all three categories.
The award in the Authors category is worth £22,000, organizers say, an amount covering the award, translation, publication, and promotion of the winning work. Of this, £2,000 goes directly to the author, with the rest covering production costs that include translation into English. Only the author can apply, with an unpublished manuscript, in this category.
The award in the Translators category is worth £20,000, according to organizers, with £2,000 going to the author and £2,000 to the translator (in addition to fees for translating the book). Only the translator can apply in this category.
The award in the Omani Publications category is worth £18,000; here again, £2,000 goes directly to the author, with the rest covering the translation into English. Submissions will be accepted from either the author or publisher.
The Prize’s Board of Trustees is made up of Marilyn Booth, Mohammed Al-Yahyai, and Sawad Hussain. Judging panels have yet to be announced, although this year there will be two judging panels: one for the translation prize, and the other for the categories of Authors and Omani Publications.