Doha: The Cultural Village Foundation-Katara has revealed the 18th list of the best art works of the participants in Katara Prize for Arabic Novel, primarily for the categories of published and unpublished novels, young adult novels, historical novels, and critical studies.
The list comprises two novels from 17 Arab states, namely Egypt with 26 novels and critical studies, followed by Morocco with 19 novels and critical studies, Syria with 9 novels, Jordan with 8 novels and critical studies, Iraq with 5 novels and critical studies, Algeria with the same number of 5 novels, Saudi Arabia and Yemen with 3 novels for each country, with Mauritania, Sudan and Palestine participating with two works for each country, and finally one art work for Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Lebanon, and Tunisia.
Overall, each list included 18 art works nominated for the prize and were as follows: the list of 18 in the category of unpublished novels included novelists from 9 Arab countries, with Morocco topping the list with 4 novels, followe
d by Egypt with 3 novels, while Syria, Jordan, Mauritania, and Yemen participated with two novels for each country, and finally Palestine. Libya, Algeria, with one novel from each country.
The published novel category included novelists from seven Arab countries, namely Egypt which topped with seven novels, followed by Syria with five novels, then Saudi Arabia with two novels, as well as Oman, Lebanon, Iraq, and Palestine, with each country participating with one novel.
As to young adult novels, the category included novelists from nine Arab countries, with Egypt topping with six novels, followed by Jordan and Morocco with three novels for each country, as well as one novel for UAE, Iraq, Algeria, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.
The historical novels included novelists from eight Arab countries while Egypt topped with six novels, followed by Morocco with four novels, with Algeria and Iraq participating with two novels for each, and finally Yemen, Syria, Jordan, and Sudan which participated with one novel
for each.
The critical studies category included critics from seven Arab countries and Morocco topped this category with eight critical studies, followed by Egypt with four studies, then Jordan with two studies, and one study for Sudan, Algeria, Iraq, and Tunisia.
Noteworthy, the committee of the Katara Prize for Arabic Novel has adjusted the system of publishing nomination lists for the best participating works starting from the 10th edition, as the first list is revealed in June each year of the best 18th list of works for all the aforementioned categories, along with the 9th list that will be published next August.
The Katara Festival for Arabic Novel is due to be held during October 13 to 20, including celebration of the 10th anniversary of the launch of the award, which has become pioneering within one decade in the Arab award both in terms of material value and comprehensiveness of the prize outputs that have launched numerous initiatives to help the Arabic novel become universalist through translati
ng the winning works into English, French and Arabic languages.
This comprehensiveness was the key factor that helped Katara receive the designation of the “City of the Arab Novel” from the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO).
Source: Qatar News Agency