Shawqi Bin Hassan
The longlist of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) 2018, also known as the Arab Booker, features 16 novels, with the works selected from 124 submitted entries from 14 Arab countries. The titles were selected by a special jury chaired by Jordanian academic and critic Ibrahim Al Saafin.
The novels include Pilgrim Christina, written by Atef Abu Saif; The Last Country, written by Antoine Douaihy; Baghdad Clock, written by Shahad Al Rawi; Al-Najdi, written by Taleb Al Refai; ‘Leg Over Leg – in the Sighting of the Lovers’ Crescent, written by Amin Al Zaoui; Flowers Consumed by Fire, written by Amir Tag Elsir, Heir of the Tombstones, written by Walid Al Shurafa and The Earthen Fortress, written by Ahmed Abdel Latif.
The longlist also features Passion, written by Rasha Adly, Huddud’s House, written by Fadi Azzam, The Critical Case of K, written by Aziz Mohammed, Here is the Rose, written by Amjad Nasser, The Black Peacock, written by Hamed Al Nazir, The Second War of the Dog,’ written by Ibrahim Nasrallah; The Frightened Ones, written by Dima Wannous and finally Ali, the Story of an Honourable Man, written by Hussein Yassin.
Three of the novelists who made it to this year’s list were longlisted for IPAF before; Atef Abu Saif for his novel A Suspended Life in 2015, Amir Tag Elsir for his novel The Grub Hunter in 2001 and Ibrahim Nasrallah for Time of White Horses’ in 2009.