DOHA, Oct 17 (KUNA) -- The Cultural Village Foundation (Katara) announced on Thursday the names of winners of the 2024 Katara Prize for Arabic Novel.
The award, launched in 2014, aims to open new horizons for creativity and innovation, foster talented Arab novelists and promote the presence of Arabic novel on the regional and international levels, General Manager of the Foundation Dr. Khaled bin Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti said in a speech to the award-giving ceremony.
The ceremony took place as part of the week-long Katara Arabic Novel Festival which continues until Sunday, October 20.
Today Katara, the City of Arabic Novel, is celebrating the World Novel Week, which was proclaimed at the 41st session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2021 and takes place every year between October 13 and 20, Al-Sulaiti noted.
The prize falls in six categories - published novel, unpublished novel, young adult novel, unpublished historical novel, critical studies, and the Qatari novel.
The prize for published Arabic novel was co-shared by Alaa Hleihel, of Palestine, for his novel "saba' rasael ila Umm-Kolthoum" (seven messages to Umm-Kolthoum); Mohammad Tarzi, of Lebanon, for his "microphone katem li al-sout" (muffler microphone), and Yousef Hussein, of Egypt, for his "bayadeq wa nishan" (pawns and badges).
The prize for unpublished novel went to the Algerian Qwaider Maymouni's "el mamino de la moirti," the Syrian Liza Khedr's "haet al-fadiha" (wall of scandal) and the Moroccan Yassin Kenni's "abath." The prize for critical studies went to the three novel critics Abal-Qasem Eisani, of Algeria; Bu-Yousef Al-Sawri, of Morocco; and Hashem Merghani, of Sudan.
The prize for young adult novel was co-shared by Abu-Bakr Hammadi, of Algeria; Shaima Jamal-Eddin, of Egypt; and Alaa Al-Jaber, of Iraq.
The prize for unpublished historical novel went to Dhia Jbeili, of Iraq.
Kalthoum Al-Kawari won the prize of Qatari novel for her "freij ben derham." (end) sss.fas.gb