Saudi novelist declared International Prize for Arabic Fiction winner

CAIRO - 26 April 2017: Saudi Arabian author Mohammed Hassan Alwan was declared the winner of the 10th International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel “A Small Death” in a ceremony held in Abu Dhabi Tuesday.

“A Small Death” is Alwan’s fifth novel and is a mostly-fictional account of the life of Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, an Arab Andalusian Islamic scholar famous for his Sufism who lived between 1165 and 1240. The novel traces his activities across the region, from Iraq and Syria to Spain.

Alwan, 38, is an Islamic scholar and poet. Two Egyptians were the first to win the prestigious prize: Bahaa Taher in 2008 and Youssef Zeidan in 2009. The prize is supported by the Booker Prize Foundation in London and funded by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority.