2023-05-22 21:00:30
Omani novelist and poet Zahran Alqasmi won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), one of the most prestigious literary awards in the Arab world, on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, the organizers announced.
The author will receive $50,000 and funding will be made available by IPAF for the English translation of his winning novel, The Water Diviner, the organizers said on their website.
Zahran Alqasmi is the first Omani to win the prestigious award for his novel depicting the life of an Omani villager, Salem bin Abdallah, hired by his community to find underground water reserves.
The author addresses in particular the problem of water “which gives life to beings” but which is also “the cause of their death by its scarcity or by floods”.
The president of this year’s jury, the Moroccan writer Mohammad Achaari, considered that the novel “explores a new subject in modern fiction: water and its impact on the environment and the life of human beings in hostile areas. “.
Five other authors from Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Egypt and Libya will each receive $10,000 for their works, organizers said.
The awards are funded by the Department of Culture and Tourism of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. Last year, it was won by a young Libyan author, Mohammad Alnaas, for his novel Du pain sur la table de l’oncle Milad.
Omani novelist and poet Zahran Alqasmi won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF), one of the Arab world’s most prestigious literary awards, on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, organizers said. The author will receive $50,000 and funding will be made available by IPAF for the English translation of its award-winning novel, The Water Diviner,…
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