The Sheikh Zayed Book Award, one of the world’s leading prizes dedicated to Arabic literature and culture, is now welcoming applications from international publishers for its Translation Grant scheme. This initiative, designed to support the global dissemination of high-quality Arabic literature, facilitates the translation and publication of award-winning Arabic literature into any language.

The Translation Grant provides funding up to US$19,000 per title towards the translation, publication, and distribution of any literary works that have won or been shortlisted for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award. This includes titles shortlisted for the Literature and Children’s Literature and the Young Author categories. Since its launch in 2018, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award Translation Grant has facilitated over 20 translations around the world.

Many of the literary works that have been recognized by the Sheikh Zayed Book Award often remain underrepresented on the international stage. Through this Translation Grant, international publishers are provided with a significant opportunity to bring these remarkable works to a broader, global audience, enhancing their visibility and impact.

Winning and shortlisted titles from the 2024 edition eligible for translation include:

  • Egyptian novelist Reem Bassiouney’s winning novel in the literature category Al Halwani: The Fatimid Trilogy, which depicts the everyday lives of Egyptians under three generations of rulers of the Fatimid Dynasty.
  • Jordanian novelist Jalal Barjas’s novel The Duduk’s Whimper, which is a fictionalised autobiography of his travels through Britain, Armenia and Algeria. His previous novel, The Bookseller’s Notebooks, was published in English by Simon and Schuster translated by Paul G. Starkey
  • Hassan Daoud’s novel A Chance for One Last Love, which depicts the residents of two neighbouring apartment blocks engaging in voyeurism, internal monologues, and social interactions against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic.

For comprehensive details on the Sheikh Zayed Book Award’s Translation Grant, a full list of titles eligible for translation funding and instructions on how to apply, visit https://www.zayedaward.ae/en/translation.grant.aspx.