Sheikh Zayed Book Award reveals longlists for two categories

Abu Dhabi, The Gulf Observer: The Sheikh Zayed Book Award (SZBA) of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), part of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi, has revealed the longlisted titles in the “Contribution to the Development of Nations” and “Literary and Art Criticism” categories.

The SZBA jury has begun the evaluation phase to assess the longlisted titles across the various categories for the award’s 17th edition (2022/2023).

The “Literary and Art Criticism” category received 286 submissions this year, an increase of 5 percent from the 273 applications received last year. The “Contribution to the Development of Nations” received 293 entries this year. Submissions for these two categories accounted for 18 percent of all applications received for this year’s SZBA.

Twelve titles made it onto the longlist for the ‘Literary and Art Criticism’ category from four Arab countries: Tunisia, Morocco, Syria, and Iraq.

The longlist for the “Contribution to the Development of Nations” category includes 11 titles from nine countries: Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Mauritania, Lebanon, Bahrain, and Morocco.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award will soon announce the longlisted entries for the remaining categories.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award honours the outstanding achievements of innovators and thinkers in literature, the arts, and humanities in Arabic and other languages. It aims to advance Arabic literature and culture, providing new opportunities for Arabic-language writers.

Authors writing about Arab culture and civilisation in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Russian also are recognised by the Awards.