Rabat – AlMultaqa Prize for the Arabic Short Story has announced the sixth edition shortlist of five Arab novelists from different countries, including Moroccan Ismail Al-Ghazali, who has published several short stories and novels.
Competing with the Moroccan novelist’s “Drunk on a Bicycle,” published by Mediterranean Publications, are the following: “Do, Yik” by Syrian Rawa’a Sunbul from Syria, “Sad Dolls” by Samir al-Fil (Egypt), “Distilled” by Abdul Hadi Al-Jamil (Kuwait), and “A Brief Time to Panic” by Yahya Salam Al-Mundhiri (Oman).
Commenting on the shortlisted works in, head of the jury, Shahla Al-Ajili, said that the competition in this edition “was intense due to the high artistic level of the participating works and the diversity of their creative paths.”
“The selected collections were distinguished by the ability of their authors to represent the art of storytelling, whether classical or experimental,” she added.
Al-Ajili explained that the jury underwent a series of lengthy deliberations to select the most deserving short story collections for the AlMultaqa Award shortlist.
She went on to say that AlMultaqa Award seeks to serve as a qualitative and creative achievement to recognize the art of the Arab short story, as the Award has become the most acclaimed prize in the field of Arabic short stories.
The winner will be announced in mid-January and will receive a $20,000 prize, while each shortlisted writer will receive $5,000.
Born in 1977, Ghazali published several short stories and novels in Arabic, including “Honey of the Storks,” “The Crossroads Game,” “The Orchard of the Spotted Deer,” “The River Bites Its Tail,” “Three days in Casablanca,” among many others.
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