Dar al-Saqi has announced the withholding of the Mai Ghoussoub Prize for the Novel in its fourth edition for 2026, a decision that reflects the publisher’s firm commitment to its literary and artistic standards and reaffirms its vision of the prize as a space for discovering new narrative voices and offering them a true first emergence under rigorous creative conditions. The prize is awarded exclusively to writers who have not previously published any literary work, and its philosophy rests on encouraging serious beginnings rather than partial completion or courtesy recognition, safeguarding readers’ trust and preserving the value of the novelistic experience.
The current edition witnessed broad participation, with Dar al-Saqi receiving more than 100 novel manuscripts from across the Arab world, including submissions from Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, Libya, and Palestine. This wide geographic reach was mirrored in a notable richness of themes and approaches, as well as a striking diversity of narrative forms, from historical fiction to science fiction, and from experimental writing to fantasy, reflecting writers’ attempts to grapple with the questions of contemporary Arab reality and reimagine them through multiple imaginative worlds.
The judging panel comprised Lebanese novelist Alawiya Sobh, Yemeni novelist Habib Abdulrab Sarori, and Pierre Fadel, editor at Dar al-Saqi. Following careful readings and extended deliberations, the jury concluded that the submitted works, despite the evident effort invested in them, did not collectively meet the artistic criteria upon which the prize is founded. The decision to withhold the award, the jury noted, stems from a deep sense of responsibility toward literature itself, the emerging writer, and the reader alike, and should not be read as a definitive judgment on the latent value of these attempts.
In its report, the jury observed that the manuscripts addressed intertwined social, political, and human concerns, from civil wars and violence to struggles with illness and psychological distress, alongside a critique of the falseness of digital life, with a marked presence of fantasy narratives that constructed parallel worlds to voice existential anxiety and overarching questions. While the panel engaged closely with several texts it considered to contain the seeds of promising novels, and provided their authors with substantive developmental feedback, the revised versions ultimately fell short of the level of artistic completion required for the prize.
