“History is important with regard to the novel, as is philosophy, for example, but in the end, it is nothing more than a tool, a means that the novel harnesses to serve artistic, aesthetic, and humanist purposes.”
Tareq Imam’s The Cairo Maquette, shortlisted for this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction, explores the lives of three main characters: Uriga, Noud, and Billiards.
“The few Tunisian novels which are available in translation made it into English thanks to the prizes that they won, or because of the curiosity the country attracted after the Arab Spring.”
“It is not easy for me to summarize in these lines my emotional relationship — with all its fluctuations — with Raqqa!”
“In intensely poetic language, Jordanian writer Jalal Barjas throws light on a totally schizophrenic reality in his country, which lies on a fault line prone to frequent tremors.”
In the video, judging chair Chawki Bazih said that although there the novels submitted to the prize were fewer in number than in previous years, they were of a high quality, “rivaling the best books of the prize since its inception.”
“The winters are long and dark in this country, with snow blowing in great generous gusts, while summer is shorter than a sip of tea at the side of the road.”
The longlist for this year’s International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) is in, and the still-anonymous judges have chosen the maximum number — 16 novels.
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF, or “Arabic Booker”) organizers announced today that the six authors shortlisted for the 2011 prize were scheduled to arrive in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
