10 things to know about the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in its 10th anniversary

CAIRO – 27 April 2017:
1- International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) was launched in April 2007 in Abu Dhabi. It was modeled on the esteemed Man Booker Prize to acknowledge high quality works of Arabic fiction, and celebrate the writers.
2- The Prize is often referred to as the ‘Arabic Booker’.
3- Among the goals of the IPAF is to increase international readership of the Arabic fiction through translation.
4- IPAF's board of trustees selects every year a new panel of five judges who could be literary critics, writers and academics from the Arab world.
5- To emphasize the international aspect of the award, one judge has to be a non-Arab, who does not necessarily speak or read Arabic.
6- The winner announcement takes place at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi every spring.
7- Each shortlisted author receives $10,000. The winning author receives an additional $50,000, with a pledge from the IPAF to meet the cost of translation of the winning novel into English.
8- IPAF indirectly helps in the translation of all shortlisted novels into other languages, as recognition by the prestigious IPAF attracts the attention of publishers all over the world.
9- Throughout the 10 years, 30 male and 18 female critics judged the prizes.
10- In 2011, for the first time, two writers shared the prize.