SEPTEMBER 18, 2025 — Yesterday, the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature announced both the judging panel for the 2025 prize and the complete list of entries they will be considering for the 2025 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, which is now in its twentieth year.
This year’s four-member panel of judges is made up of Professor Tina Phillips (Chair), a scholar and translator of modern Arabic literature; Dr Susan F. Frenk, principal of St Aidan’s College, Durham University; Nashwa Nasreldin, writer, editor and literary translator; and Boyd Tonkin, a journalist, writer, and former Literary Editor at The Independent.
For this year’s prize, there are 17 entries sent by 12 different publishers. According to organizers, they “comprise 13 novels, one poetry collection, one short story collection, one memoir and one book for young readers. There are 16 authors (ten men and six women), one of whom has two entries, and 18 translators (14 women and four men), one of whom has two entries.”
This year’s short list is set to be announced on December 1 2025, and the winner and runner-up on January 7 2026.
The complete list of entries, alphabetized by translator surname:
The Guardian of Surfaces by Bothayna Al-Essa, translated by Ranya Abdelrahman and Sawad Hussain (Selkies House Limited)
Huddud’s House by Fadi Azzam, translated by Ghada Alatrash (Interlink Publishing)
The Halva-Maker: The Trilogy of the Fatimids (Sicilian, Armenian, Kurdish) by Reem Bassiouney, translated by Roger Allen (DarArab for Publishing and Translation)
Heiress of Honour by George Maalouli, translated by Yacine Mohammed Belguendouz (TASQ Publishing House)
Honey Hunger by Zahran Alqasmi, translated by Marilyn Booth (Hoopoe, an imprint of the American University in Cairo Press)
Sages of Darkness: A Depiction of Kurdish Life in Late Ottoman Times by Salim Barakat, translated by Aviva Butt (Peter Lang)
1970: The Last Days by Sonallah Ibrahim, translated by Eleanor Ellis (Seagull Books)
The Universe, All at Once by Salim Barakat, translated by Huda J. Fakhreddine (Seagull Books)
A Spring That Did Not Blossom by Nejmeh Khalil Habib, translated by Samar Habib (Interlink Publishing)
On the Greenwich Line by Shady Lewis, translated by Katharine Halls (Peirene Press)
Granada: The Complete Trilogy by Radwa Ashour, translated by Kay Heikkinen (Hoopoe, an imprint of the American University in Cairo Press)
Land of Sweetheart Deals by Wajdi Al-Ahdal, translated by William M. Hutchins (DarArab for Publishing and Translation)
We Never Swim in the Same River Twice by Hassouna Mosbahi, translated by William Maynard Hutchins (Syracuse University Press)
The Tale of a Wall: Reflections on Hope and Freedom by Nasser Abu Srour, translated by Luke Leafgren (Penguin Press)
A Long Walk from Gaza by Asmaa Alatawna, translated by Caline Nasrallah and Michelle Hartman (Interlink Publishing)
Thunderbird: Book 3 by Sonia Nimr, translated by M. Lynx Qualey (Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin)
Sand-Catcher by Omar Khalifah, translated by Barbara Romaine (Coffee House Press)