Syrian writer nominated for Intl Literature Award in Germany

CAIRO – 4 June 2017: The Syrian writer Hamad Aboud is competing on the International Literature Award, for the best translated text to the German language, with his novel “Death Makes the Birthday Cake.”

Aboud is the third Arab author to be shortlisted for the International Literature Award, after the Lebanese Elias Khoury and the Algerian novelist Yasmina Khadra.

The short list includes six books with their translators; Alberto Parreira Teszka from Venezuela, Han Kang from South Korea, Amanda Li Ku from Singapore, Feston Mwanza Mugila from Congo, Zmovet Szczerek of Bologna, in addition to Aboud.

This year, 136 versions of 29 languages competed around the world in the long-list nominations.

The results will be announced on June 20 and the winners will receive up to €35,000 ($39,000) distributed between the writer and the translator, where the writer receives €20,000 and the translator receives €15,000.

Hamad was a guest at the Literature Festival in Switzerland on March 18, on occasion of his book publication “Death Makes the Birthday Cake” in a bilingual Arabic – German edition.

He was born in Deir El-Zour in 1987, where he studied communication engineering at the University of Aleppo.

Aboud has written several novels; “Matar El Gayma El-Oula” (Rain of the First Cloud) is the most renowned collection.