2 Egyptians compete for International Prize for Arabic Fiction

CAIRO - 17 December 2019: The International Prize for Arabic Fiction announced the long list of nominated novels for 2020, where Egypt's Rashad Adly and Youssef Zeidan are competing with their novels “Akher Ayam el-Basha” and “Fardaqan” respectively.

The list includes 16 novels that were published between July 2018 and June 2019 and were chosen from 128 novels competing for the award.

Three female and 13 male authors reached the long list. The authors are aged between 34 and 75 years and come from nine countries. The novels address issues affecting the Arab world and shed light on the history of the Arab region.

The novels depict the fate of the cities of Aleppo, Algiers, and Rabat and the fate of their people trying to live in the midst of war and ruins.

The long list was chosen by a five-member jury, chaired by Iraqi critic Mohsen Jassim al-Mousawi. Egyptian TV presenter and journalist Reem Maged is among the jury members.

It is worth mentioning that Aisha Ibrahim, Hassan Oored, Salim Barakat, Azhar Guirgis, Khalil al-Raz, Saeed Khatibi, Abdel-Wahab Issawi, Muhammad Issa al-Moadab and Alia Mamdouh made it to the long list for the first time.

The prize totals up to $50,000.