Judges Announce International Prize for Arabic Fiction’s 2026 Shortlist
FEBRUARY 4, 2026 — The chair of the judges for the 2026 International Prize for Arabic Fiction, Mohamed Elkadhi, today announced the prize’s 2026 vibrant six-book shortlist in Manama, Bahrain.
The six shortlisted titles are: The Origin of Species by Ahmad Abdulatif, The Absence of Mai by Najwa Barakat, A Cloud Above My Head by Doaa Ibrahim, The Seer by Diaa Jubaili, I Resist the River’s Course by Said Khatibi, and Siesta Dream by Amin Zaoui.
The shortlisted books feature a wide range of styles and concerns, from Abdulatif’s post-human era; to Barakat’s lonely and alienated Beirut; to Ibrahim’s abuse, crime, and punishment; to Jubaili’s Gilgamesh-inspired historical explorations; to Khatibi’s fast-paced Algerian crime novel; to Zaoui’s portrait of women’s courage in the face of repression.
The shortlist was announced at a press conference at the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, where Elkadhi was joined by Palestinian writer and translator Maya Abu Al-Hayyat, Bahraini academic and critic Dheya Alkaabi, South Korean academic Laila Hyewon Baek, and Iraqi writer and translator Shakir Nouri.
Elkadhi said that the novels, which ” journey through time to past eras, reinterpreting them to reveal hidden aspects of evolving Arab identity,” shun didacticism and “appeal to the evolving tastes of readers who aspire to be partners in the creative process, not merely consumers of texts.”
Yasir Suleiman, Chair of the Board of Trustees, said that the books “capture a world of intersectionalities” and that they “will appeal to a swathe of publics whether in the original Arabic or in translation.”
Several of this year’s shortlisted writers have previous work already available in English translation: Najwa Barakat’s Mister N was shortlisted for the 2023 EBRD Literature Prize in Luke Leafgren’s translation, and also won the Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation; Said Khatibi’s Sheikh Zayed Book Award-winning End of the Sahara is out this month in Alex Elinson’s translation; and Diaa Jubaili’s collection of short-short stories, No Windmills in Basra, winner of the Almultaqa Prize for the Short Story appeared in Chip Rossetti’s translation.
The longlist — announced back in December — was chosen from a total of 137 submissions, and the winner of the $50,000 prize is set to be announced on April 9, 2026, at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.
Also read:
An excerpt from Doaa Ibrahim’s A Cloud Above My Head, translated by Alaa Alqaisi