International Arabic Fiction Prize 2023 Long List Announcement

Abu Dhabi (Al Ittihad)

The International Prize for Arabic Fiction has announced the shortlisted novels for the 2023 session, with a prize of $50,000, as there are 16 novels on the shortlist.
The prize’s long list includes writers from nine Arab countries, aged between 40 and 77, whose novels address themes ranging from immigration, the experience of displacement and asylum, to human relationships, transient or profound. The novels also explore the world of childhood and the experience of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, reflecting complex political turmoil and various individual and group conflicts. In the novels we find irony, magical realism, dystopia and symbolism, as well as attempts to invest in folklore and oral histories to understand current political and social issues.
The long list was selected from a five-member jury chaired by Moroccan writer and novelist Mohamed Al-Ashari and Egyptian academic and novelist Reem Bassiun, Titz Rock, university professor and Swedish translator, Aziza al. -Taye, Omani writer and scholar, and Fadila Al-Farooq, Algerian novelist, researcher, and journalist.

long list
Below are the titles of the novels that made the 2023 International Arab Fiction Prize long list, listed in alphabetical order by author names:
The novel “Mena” by the Algerian writer Al-Sidiq Haj Ahmed (publisher and distributor Dar al-Dawaya), the novel “Sandbox” by the Libyan writer Aisha Ibrahim (published by Al-Mustawasit), the novel “Everybody Says. I love you” by Egyptian writer May Al – One Night is Enough from Telmisan (Dar al-Shorouk), by Jordanian writer Qasem Tawfiq (Now, Publishers and Distributors), from the novel “Stone of Happiness” by Iraqi writer Azhar Zarzis (Dar al-Shorouk) Rafidain), novel by the Syrian writer Sausan Jamil Hassan “My name is Linden” (published by Al-Rabea), novel by the Syrian writer Lina Hoyan “The Governor of Two Castles”. Al-Hassan (Dar al-Adab), novel by Moroccan writer Rabia Raihan “Our Great House” (Dar al-Ain), novel by Libyan writer Najwa Bin Shatwan “Kurena Eduardo’s Concert” (Takween Publications – Iraq) Egyptian writer Miral Al- Tahawi The novel “Days of the Rising Sun” (Dar al-Ain), the novel “Higher Horizon” by Saudi writer Fatima Abdel-Hamid (Misclian Publications – UAE), the novel “Centuries of Daniel in the City of Threads ” by Egyptian writer Ahmed Abdel-Latif (Dar al-Ain), the novel “Anti-Khana” (Dar al-Shoruk) by Egyptian writer Nasser Iraq, the novel “Bari”. Layalina” by the Egyptian writer Ahmed Al-Fakhran (Dar al-Shoruk), the novel “Alienation”. Al-Kafir” by Omani writer “The Music of the Rabbit” by Zahran Al-Qasim (Dar Rashim), a novel by Moroccan writer Mohamed Al-Haradi (Al-Mutawasit Edition).

Legacy and Legendary Inventory
The International Arabic Narrative Prize is an annual award specializing in the field of writing Arabic-language novels. The award is sponsored by the Arabic Language Center of the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Emirates, and the prize is supported by the Booker Prize Foundation in London.