The Shortlist for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2025 Unveiled
The shortlist for the 2025 Sheikh Zayed Book Award was unveiled recently for the categories of literature, children's literature, and Arab culture in other languages.
The shortlisted works have been selected from 4,000 submissions across 75 countries, including 20 Arabic nations.
However, two categories, young author and publishing and technology, have been cancelled for this year's prize.
The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre organizes this prize, which is one of the world's most lucrative literary prizes, with a total purse of $2.1 million.
The award ceremony will be hosted during the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, which will run from Apr. 26 to May 5.
Here are the shortlisted works for the 2025 Sheikh Zayed Book Award:
Literature
'Travels of the City of Clay Trilogy' by Saud Alsanousi, Kuwait (Dar Kalimat Publishing & Distribution – Moulaph, 2023)
'The Sphinx' by Ahmed Mourad, Egypt (Dar El Shorouk, 2023)
'Hind or the Most Beautiful Woman in the World' by Hoda Barakat, Lebanon/France (Dar Aladab, 2024).
Children’s Literature
'Maymouna and Her Crazy Ideas' by Shireen Sabanegh, Jordan (Hachette Antoine/Nofal, 2023)
'The Phantom of Sabiba' by Latifa Labsir, Morocco (Markaz Kitab, 2024)
'The Digital Fox' by Hegra Elsawi, Egypt (Dar Shan Publishing & Distribution, 2024)
Translation
'Tausendundeine Nacht: Das Buch der Liebe (One Thousand and One Nights: The Book of Love)', translated from Arabic to German by Claudia Ott, Germany (Verlag CH Beck, 2022)
'Orosius' by Paulus Orosius, translated from Arabic to English by Marco Di Branco, Italy (Pisa University Press, 2024)
'Le démon de la théorie: Littérature et sens commun (The Demon of Theory: Literature and Common Sense)' by Antoine Compagnon, translated from French to Arabic by Hassan Outtaleb, Morocco (Dar Alkitab Aljadeed, 2023)
Literary and Art Criticism
'Food and Language: Cultural Excavations in Arab Heritage' by Said Laouadi, Morocco (Afrique Orient, 2023)
'Poetry and Prophecy: Abu Tayeb as the Poet-Prophet' by Rita Awad, Palestine (Arab Institute for Research & Publishing, 2024)
'Urbanistic Samarra: A Study of Architecture and Planning of an Abbasid City' by Khaled Alsultany, Iraq (Adib Books, 2024)
Contribution to the Development of Nations
'The Right to Strive: Perspectives on Muslim Women’s Rights' by Mohammed Bechari, UAE (Nahdet Misr Publishing, 2024)
'The Philosophy of Recognition and Identity Politics: Criticism of the Cultural Approach to Arab-Islamic Culture' by Housamedden Darwish, Syria/Germany (Mominoun Without Borders, 2023)
'Cities and Trade in Arab and Islamic Civilisation' by Majduddin Khemesh, Jordan (Dar Alsayel for Publishing & Distribution, 2024)
Arab Culture in Other Languages
'Arabic Literary Culture in Southeast Asia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries' by Andrew Peacock, UK (Brill, 2024).
'Geschichte des ostlichen zagal: Dialektale arabische Strophendichtung aus dem Osten der arabischen Welt – von den Anfangen bis zum Ende der Mamlukenzeit' (The History of Eastern Zajal: Arabic Poetry in Colloquial Dialects from the Eastern Arab World – From its Beginnings to the End of the Mamluk Era) by Hakan Ozkan, Turkey (Ergon Verlag, 2020)
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'The Rise of the Arabic Book' by Beatrice Gruendler, Germany (Harvard University Press, 2020)
Editing of Arabic Manuscripts
'News of Women' by Rasheed Alkhayoun, Iraq/UK (King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, 2024)
'Interpretation of the Mu’allaqat Poems' by Saleh Aljassar, Saudi Arabia (Alkhizana Alandalusia – Al-Khanji Library, Cairo, 2024)
'Alkawakib Alsayaara fi Tartib Alziyara' by Dr. Ahmed Gomaa Abdelhamid, Egypt (Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, 2024)