Moroccan Author Abdellah Taïa’s Novel Shortlisted for Prestigious Arab Literature Prize

Organized by the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation and the Arab World Institute (IMA), the Arab Literature Prize is a competition that shines the spotlight on eight novels written by men and women from six Arab countries such as Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan, Syria and Tunisia, reports TelQuel.

For this 10th edition, Morocco will be represented by the book "Live in Your Light" by Abdellah Taïa, while Egypt will be represented by "A Well-Trained Street Dog" by Muhammad Aladdin. Lebanon participates with "The Taste of Boys" by Joy Majdalani, Tunisia with the three works "Bel Abîme" by Yamen Manai, "The Neighbor on the Fifth Floor" by Habib Selmi, and "By the Thread I Sewed You" by Fawzia Zouari. As for Omar Youssef Souleimane, he will represent Syria with his work "A Room in Exile" and Hammour Ziada will carry the voice of Sudan with his work "The Drowned of the Nile".

The jury will meet in the fall under the chairmanship of Pierre Leroy to examine the works submitted to their appreciation in order to designate the grand winner of the new edition of the Arab Literature Prize. He or she will receive 10,000 euros, the promotion of his or her novel or short story collection. The award ceremony will take place in November 2022 at the Arab World Institute (IMA), in the presence of Jack Lang, president of the IMA.