The Sheikh Zayed Book Award has revealed the works nominated to win the AED 7 million prizes across its seven categories. Winners will be announced before the end of this month.
The award’s general secretariat has shortlisted four publishing houses in the ‘Publishing and Cultural Technology’ category. They include Dar Al Kitab Al Jadid, Dar Al Tanweer Publishing, the Beirut-based Arab Institute for Research and Publishing, and Morocco’s Toubka’ Publishing House.
In the ‘Literature’ category, the selected works included four novels, Yakfi Annana Ma’an (At Least We are Together) by Egyptian writer Ezzat El Kamhawi, Ikhtibar Al Nadam (Remorse Test) by Syrian novelist Khalil Sweileh, Al Shaytan Yoheb Ahyanan (The Devil May Love Sometimes) by Saudi author Zainab Hifni, and Anaqeed Al Ratheelah (Grapes of Vice) by Mauritanian novelist Ahmed Hafiz.
In ‘Children’s Literature’, the shortlist includes Jada’el khadra’a (Green Braids) by Syrian author Muhannad Al Aqous, Ana Salma (I am Salma) by Syrian author Lina Hawyan Al Hasan, and Al Dinoraf (The Dynoraf) by Emirati author Hessa Al Muhairi.
In the ‘Young Author’ category, the shortlisted works include two novels, Reih Al Sharki (The winds of sharki) by Moroccan author Mohsine Loukili, and Amtar Sayfiyyah (Summer Rains) by Egyptian writer Ahmed Al Qarmalawi. The award also nominated a research study titled Al Dars Al Balaghi Al Arabi Bayn Al Seemya’iat wa Tahleel Al Khitab (Arabic Rhetoric between Semiotics and Discourse Analysis) by Algerian academic Lakhdari Saad.
In ‘Translation’, the shortlist includes three books, namely The Fourth Revolution: How the Info Sphere is Reshaping Human Reality by author Luciano Floridi and translated by Egyptian translator Lo’ai Abdul Majid Al Sayyed. The second nomination is a French title History and Philosophy of Sciences by author Thomas Lepeltier, and translated by Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Tajjo from Syria. The third book Ästhetische Theorie by German author Theodor W. Adorno, and translated by Naji Al Awnali form Tunisia.
The shortlist in the ‘Literary and Art Criticism’ category is as follows: The Rhetoric of Eloquence by Moroccan scholar Mohamed Mechbal, and Developing the Arabic Letter and Challenges of Globalisation by Moroccan academic Abderrazzak Tourabi, and The Writing and Poetry of Adonis by Tunisian scholar Omar Hufaiez.
In category of ‘Arabic Culture in other Languages’, four works La vida de los edificios in Spanish by Rafael Moneo, La maîtrise de la concupiscence in French by Mohammed Hocine Benkheira, Miracles of Quran by German researcher Angelika Neuwirth, and Success and Suppression Arabic Sciences and Philosophy in the Era of Renaissance in English by Dag Nikolaus, are nominated.
