Record-breaking submissions for £160k Sheikh Zayed Book Award

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award (SZBA) has announced the shortlists for its seven prizes, each worth £160,000, following a record year of submissions.

The award, now in its 18th year, is one of the world’s leading prizes dedicated to Arab literature and culture and has been celebrating writers, scholars, translators, cultural leaders, institutions and organisations for almost two decades since its inception in Abu Dhabi in 2006. This year features authors and institutions from 16 different countries. 

Durham University fellow Sami Marwan Moubayed is shortlisted for the Contribution to the Development of Nations Award and has been published in the UK before by Bloomsbury. Fellow academic, American professor of literature Eric Calderwood (University of Illinois) is shortlisted in the Arab Culture in Other Languages category. 

Lebanese author Hassan Daoud is shortlisted in the Literature category and several of his previous books have been translated into English, including The Penguin’s Song (published in the US by City Lights Books). 

Other categories include Publishing and Technology, Translation, Young author and Editing of Arabic Manuscripts. The full shortlists can be viewed here.

The bumper shortlisting reflects another record year for the award, with a total of 4,240 submissions from 74 countries (including 19 Arab nations and 55 from beyond the Arab world), the winners will be announced at the end of the month. They will each receive 750,000 UAE dirhams (around £160,000), while the specially appointed cultural personality will receive 1,000,000 UAE dirhams (£214,000) at the award ceremony taking place at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair on 30th April. 

Dr Ali bin Tamim, secretary-general of the SZBA and chairman of Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, said: "We are delighted to unveil this year’s shortlist, which exemplifies excellence in contemporary academic, fiction, and nonfiction literature relating to the Arab world. Throughout the rigorous submissions and evaluation process for this prestigious award, we have witnessed wide-ranging and thought-provoking subject matter, highlighting the depth, creativity, and scholarly rigour of the contemporary Arab publishing community.”