Canada-based Saudi writer wins $50,000 'Arab Booker' prize

Abu Dhabi - As a Saudi national living in Canada, Alwan said the novel was linked to his nostalgia of the Arab world.

A Small Death by Mohammed Hasan Alwan from Saudi Arabia was announced as the winner of the 10^th International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF).
The novel, chosen among six finalists, is a fictional account of the life of Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi, from his birth in Muslim Spain in the 12^th century until his death in Damascus. Selected from 186 novels from 19 countries, the novel follows his mystic experience and heroic travels from Andalusia to Azerbaijan, via Morocco, Egypt, the Hijaz, Syria, Iraq and Turkey.
Besides taking home $50,000 (about Dh183,000), Alwan will be provided with funding for the English translation of A Small Death, which will help increase his book sales and gain international recognition.
As a Saudi national living in Canada, Alwan said the novel was linked to his nostalgia of the Arab world.
"It might seem odd to choose to write a novel about Ibn 'Arabi with all those extreme eastern concepts, while residing in this distant cold corner of the world in Canada. I realised that being exposed to what is seemingly foreign or different is what drives me to reconnect with myself, as well as with my heritage and old culture."
Palestinian novelist Sahar Khalifeh, who chaired the judging panel, said the novel explored the life and thought of Ibn 'Arabi with "striking artistry and in captivating language". She added: "It sheds light on Ibn 'Arabi's view of spiritual and temporal love in their most refined forms. The life of Ibn 'Arabi, the man, evolves and takes shape against the background of a tumultuous historical period filled with wars and conflicts."
Alwan had previously published four novels: The Ceiling of Sufficiency (2002), Sophia (2004), The Collar of Purity (2007), and The Beaver (2011). The Beaver was shortlisted for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2013 and its French translation by Stéphanie Dujols went on to win the Arab World Institute's Prix de la Littérature Arabe in 2015.
Alwan has also written a non-fiction book, Migration: Theories and Key Factors (2014). He was selected as one of the 39 best Arab authors under the age of 40 by the 2009-10 Beirut 39 project of the Hay Festival and Beirut World Book Capital and his work was published in the Beirut39 anthology. He was invited to join IPAF's first nadwa (writers' workshop) in 2009, before becoming a mentor in 2016.
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction is an annual literary prize for fiction in Arabic. The prize is run with the support, as its mentor, of the Booker Prize Foundation in London and funded by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi). The prize is also supported by Etihad Aviation Group (EAG).
Fulfilling its ambition to increase the international reach of Arabic fiction, the prize provides funding for the English translation of its winners. Last year's winner Destinies: Concerto of the Holocaust and the Nakba by Rabai Al Madhoun will be published in English by AUC Press this autumn. Also this year, AUC Press published English translations of former shortlisted titles Baghdad Eucharist by Sinan Antoon (shortlisted as Hail Mary in 2013) and Embrace on Brooklyn Bridge by Ezzedine Choukri Fishere (shortlisted in 2012). Ahmed Saadawi's Frankenstein in Baghdad, which won the prize in 2014, will be published in 2018 by Penguin Books in the US and by Oneworld in the UK.  In total, 33 of the prize's winning and shortlisted novels have been translated into 24 languages.
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Five finalists honoured
The five shortlisted finalists, Najwa Binshatwan, Ismail Fahd Ismail, Elias Khoury, Mohammed Abdel Nabi and Saad Mohammed Raheem were also honoured at the ceremony, receiving $10,000 (about Dh36,000). Ahead of the announcement, the authors also took part in a series of events in Abu Dhabi for the Writers Union and NYU Abu Dhabi Institute. The 2017 judging panel comprised: Sahar Khalifeh (Chair), a Palestinian novelist; Saleh Almani, a Palestinian translator; Fatima Al Haji, a Libyan academic, novelist and broadcaster; Sahar ElMougy, an Egyptian novelist and academic; and Sophia Vasalou, a Greek academic and translator.
 

• Abu Dhabi