Ahmed al-Qarmalawi to release 4th novel

CAIRO – 17 August 2018: Egyptian author Ahmed al-Qarmalawi, the winner of the 12th edition of the international Sheikh Zayed Book Award, finished writing his fourth novel.

More details about the novel, which will be issued by the Egyptian Lebanese Publishing Houses, will be declared in the upcoming period.

Qarmalawi won on April 2, 2018, the 12th edition of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, which aims to promote creativity in the Arab world and North Africa.

The award, founded back in 2007, is divided across eight categories where winners can earn 750, 000DH (LE 3,605.78). These winners were chosen from around 337 nominees all across the Middle East and North Africa.

Born in Cairo in 1978, Qarmalawi graduated from the Faculty of Construction Engineering at the American University in Cairo (AUC), and later went on to receive a master's degree from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

His first novel, "Abbas First" was published in 2013. He received the Zayed Book Award under the Young Author category for his novel "Summer Rains" (Amtar Sayfiyyah) which was published by Cairo's Maktabat al-Dar al-Arabiyah lil-Kitab in 2017.

Aside from writing, his hobbies also include oil, charcoal, and pastel painting as well as playing oud. Other winners of the award include Syrian novelist Khalil Sweileh, winner of the Literature Award for the novel "Remorse Test" (Ikhtibar al-Nadam), published in Beirut, 2017 by Nofal- Hachette Antoine. This book explores the psychological damage that Syrians suffered in the wake of the Syrian Civil War.

Emirate's Hessa al-Muhairi won the Children's Literature Award for her story "Al-Dinoraf", published by Al-Hudhud in the UAE (2017).

This charming little story for kids teaches the wonders of diversity and respect by following a long-necked dinosaur who searches for his counterpart across the animal kingdom, and he finally meets his soul mate through a giraffe.

Along the way, he learns a lot about the many animals he meets, and understands what makes each of them special.

The Translation Award went to Tunisia's Néji el-Ounelli, who translated the German philosophical text "Ästhetische Theorie" (Aesthetic Theory) by Theodor W Adornointo, which was published by Beirut's Al-Jamal Publications in 2017.


Meanwhile, Morocco's Mohammad Mishbal won the Literary and Art Criticism Award for his work "The Rhetoric of Al-Hajjaj: Towards a Rhetoric Inspired by Al-Hajjaj in Analyzing Discourse", which was published in Amman by Kunouz Al-Ma’refa Publishers in 2017.