MOHAMMED ACHAARI, RAJA ALEM, KHALID AL-BARI, BENSALEM HIMMICH, AMIR TAJ AL-SIR and MIRAL AL-TAHAWY are the six authors announced last Thursday 9 December 2010 as the shortlisted finalists for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2011. The shortlisted authors were revealed at a press conference with the panel of judges in Doha, Qatar, 2010 Arab Capital of Culture.
The shortlist was announced by Fadhil Al-Azzawi, the 2011 Chair of Judges, whose name was also revealed alongside a panel of four other Judges today. All five Judges are specialists in the field of Arabic literature and come from Iraq, Bahrain, Italy, Jordan and Morocco.
Fadhil Al-Azzawi comments on the shortlist: “From the beginning the judging panel worked together in harmony and with a great degree of agreement. The fact that they reached near consensus on the longlist made choosing the shortlist easy. In the Judges’ opinion, the shortlist shows the high quality of the modern Arabic novel in its different forms.”
The six shortlisted titles were chosen from a longlist of 16, announced in November this year, following 123 submissions from across the Arab world. They are, in alphabetical order:
The Arch and the Butterfly
Mohammed Achaari
Tackling the themes of Islamic extremism and terrorism from a new angle, The Arch and the Butterfly explores the effect of terrorism on family life. It tells the story of a left-wing father who one day receives a letter from Al-Qaeda informing him that his son, who he believes is studying in Paris, has died a martyr in Afghanistan. The novel looks at the impact of this shocking news on the life of its hero and consequently on his relationship with his wife.
An Oriental Dance
Khalid al-Bari
An Oriental Dance tells the story of a young Egyptian who, on marrying an older British woman, moves to England. Through his eyes, the reader is given a vivid account of the struggles and relationships of the Arab expatriate community living in the UK.
The Hunter of the Chrysalises (Or the Head Hunter)
Amir Taj al-Sir
The Hunter of the Chrysalises is the story of a former secret service agent who, having been forced to retire due to an accident, decides to write a novel about his experiences. He starts to visit a café frequented by intellectuals, only to find himself the subject of police scrutiny.
Brooklyn Heights
Miral al-Tahawy
Brooklyn Heights tells the story of the New York’s Arab immigrants and those who live among them through the eyes of the female narrator. By contrasting her experiences in her chosen home, America, and her homeland Egypt, she reveals the problematic relationship between East and West. It is a story of fundamentalism and tolerance, loss and hope in love. Simple yet full of rich detail, the novel evokes the atmosphere of America over the last decade.
The Doves' Necklace
Raja Alem
The sordid underbelly of the holy city of Mecca is revealed in this astonishing story. The world painted by heroine Aisha embraces everything from prostitution and religious extremism to the exploitation of foreign workers under a mafia of building contractors, who are destroying the historic areas of the city. This bleak scene is contrasted with the beauty of Aisha’s love letters to her German boyfriend.
My Tormentor
Bensalem Himmich
In a gripping novel, whose narrative style is a blend of Kafka and One Thousand and One Nights, Himmich imagines an innocent man’s experience of extraordinary rendition in an American prison. During his captivity, the protagonist is subjected to interrogation and torture by both Arabs and foreigners and yet, against all odds, the author manages to find some hope in an otherwise desperate situation.
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