Winners pose with ministers, officials and other resource persons during the award distribution ceremony at the concluding session of the Fourth Katara Festival of Arabic Novels at Katara Cultural Village, yesterday.
DOHA: The Fourth Katara Festival of Arabic Novels concluded at Katara Cultural Village yesterday with a grand ceremony for awarding winners of the prestigious Katara Prize for Arabic Novel 2018.
Twenty novelists and critics won cash prizes worth $575,000 in four different categories. The ceremony was attended by ministers, diplomats and other dignitaries, along with a galaxy of Arab writers, novelists and intellectuals.
Dr Khaled bin Ibrahim Al Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara Cultural Village, in his opening address thanked the participating writers and novelists for being a part of the Festival, which he said, had gained a distinguished position in the history of Arabic fiction.
He said the previous editions of the Festival had focused on different aspects of Arabic fiction, which is a fast expanding branch of literature, and the relation between Arabic novel and theatre, by converting some prize-winning novels to theatrical productions.
He added that Katara was committed to continuing its efforts to promote Arabic fiction and introduce it to the world, by all means, including translation of prize-winning novels to English and French.
Al Sulaiti then gave away the prizes to the winners. Five Arab novelists won the top prize of $60,000 each in the published novels category taking it to a total of $300,000.
The winners are: Ibrahim Ahmed Ibrahim Ahmed (Egypt), Thoura Ibrahim Hussain Hawamida (Palestine), Omar Ahmed Fadlullah Al Fahl (Sudan), Qassim Mohammed Thoufeeq (Jordan) and Najat Hussain Abdussamad (Syria).
Five winners in the unpublished novels category won cash prizes worth $30,000 each totaling $150,000. They are: Tha’ira Ghazi Qassim Hussain (Jordan), Hassan Mohammed Ba’eeti (Syria), Zakaria Ibrahim Mohammed Abdul Jawad (Egypt), Abdul Kareem Shanan Mohammed Al Obaidi (Iraq) and Haya Saleh Aouda Ibrahim (Jordan).
Five Arab writers bagged $15,000 each for the best critical studies on Arabic novels ($75,000 in total). The winners are: Dr Abdul Raheem Wahabi (Morocco), Dr Mohammed bin Al Sadiq Kahlawi (Tunisia), Dr Mohammed Mahmoud Hussain Mohammed (Egypt), Dr Mohammed Mishbal (Morocco), and Dr Walad Matali Ahmed Mahmadu (Mauritania).
Five young Arab novelists won $10,000 each ($50,000 in total) in the category dedicated for them. They are: Hassan Sabri Mohammed Abdullatheef Abussa’n (Egypt), Dr Sana Kamil Ahmed Sha’alan (Jordan) , Dr Atif Talal Ibrahim Abu Saif (Palestine), Maria Mohammed Nasooh Da’doush (Syria) and Wa’am bint Rida Ghadas (Tunisia).
As many as 1,283 entries were received for the current and latest edition of the Prize- 596 participants in the category of unpublished novels, 562 in published novels category, 47 in unpublished critical studies, in addition to 78 participants in the category of unpublished novels by young writers. The participants included 322 women and 961 men.
Earlier yesterday, two seminars on literary criticism was held focusing on women fiction writers in Arabic and “novels and theatre,” with participation of prominent writers and critics.
