Founded in Abu Dhabi in 2006, the Award aims to recognise some of the most challenging and stimulating work coming out of the Arab world or engaging with its history and culture. Winners are awarded a career-changing cash prize and international promotional support.
Previous winners of the Award include the British writer Dame Marina Warner for her non-fiction book Stranger Magic (Chatto & Windus); French academic Mathieu Tillier for his book of Mediaeval Arab history L’Invention du Cadi (Éditions de la Sorbonne); and Indian American scholar Tahera Qutbuddin for her academic title Arabic Oration: Art and Function (Brill Publishing).
Of the ten prize categories, four are open to international submissions:
- Arab Culture in Other Languages welcomes works published in languages other than Arabic on aspects of Arab civilisation and culture from a broad spectrum of the humanities and social sciences
- Translation recognises works of any genre (fiction, poetry and non-fiction) translated either to or from Arabic
- Publishing and Technology is dedicated to publishers, distributors, research institutions and cultural organisations, that promote culture in various forms of publishing development
- Launched this year, Editing of Arabic Manuscripts welcomes works that have made a clear contribution to the fields of editing of manuscripts, including works dedicated to specialised and general lexicons
Additionally, the SZBA Translation Fund initiative offers international publishers grants to translate its winning and shortlisted Arabic-language literary titles in the Literature, Young Author and Children’s Literature categories.
Find out more via this link and apply by 1 October 2023: zayedaward.ae/