The Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) has announced the opening of registrations for the 40th edition of the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) Awards and will be accepting entries until the end of August.
SBA will honour local, regional, and global excellence in literature in five distinctive awards, including the Sharjah Translation Award ‘Turjuman’, Best Emirati Book, Best Arabic Novel, Best International Book, as well as the Sharjah Publisher Recognition Award.
SIBF’s AED 300,000 Emirati Book Award seeks to encourage local literary talents across four sub-categories: Novel (AED 100,000), Studies (AED 100,000), Travel Literature (AED 50,000), and Theatre Script (AED 50,000). In order to qualify for this award, a book must present a unique point of view; should have been published within the past two years; should not be a revised edition, and should not have already won a local or international literary award.
The AED 150,000 Best Arabic Novel Award seeks to celebrate and support Arab authors in the region. Novels written in standard Arabic language and published within the past two years can be submitted for the award provided they are not revised editions. Short story collections are not eligible for the award.
With a prize of AED 50,000 each for the Best International Book Award for Fiction and Non-fiction categories, SBA seeks to build bridges between different cultures and introduce English language books across several genres to Arab readers.
Submissions in these two categories must have been published within the past two years. The writer in either category should not have been a recipient of the Sharjah Award for the Best International Book in the past two years.
The Sharjah Publisher Recognition Award seeks to recognise and honour publishers for their contributions across three sub-categories: Best Local Publisher, Best Arab Publisher and Best International Publisher. The AED 75,000 prize will be divided equally between three winners whose work has served to advance the publishing sector substantially.
Publishing houses participating in the 40th edition SIBF edition are eligible to apply for this award. The publisher must be a member of a publisher’s association in the country of incorporation and should have published at least 10 books in the same year of the award.
SBA will also receive applications for the fourth edition of the AED 1.3-million Sharjah Translation Award ‘Turjuman’. This award promotes Arabic literary works globally by encouraging international translators and publishers to pick up titles by renowned Arab authors for translation for a global audience. The key mission of the award is to contribute to the global appreciation of Arabic literature and enhance cross-cultural communication by encouraging the creation of content that promotes transparency and humanist values.
The Turjuman Award is open to international publishing houses, which have published translations of an original publication in Arabic. Publishers may submit more than one work for the jury’s consideration.
Online application forms can be accessed on the SIBF website. The complete list of criteria, and other terms and conditions for the awards can be found at: https://bit.ly/2THvuRb.
