The Sheikh Zayed Book Award will be in attendance at the Frankfurter Buchmesse 2021. Joining exhibitors from over 70 countries, the Award will invite visitors and virtual attendees to the fair to discover and connect with the work of the prize through its presentation and associated events.
Described by Le Monde as the ‘Prix Goncourt of the Arab world’, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award is internationally renowned as one of the Arab world’s most prestigious literary prizes. Alongside the annual prize ceremony, the Award works year round to enhance and improve literary translation and cultural integration around the world through events, and activations including partnerships with international literary festivals, trade publications and key stakeholders.
At the fair, the Award, in partnership with Litprom and Publishing Perspectives, will host three events:
Thursday 21 October: SZBA in collaboration with Publishing Perspectives
9am-10am (GMT+2)
Location - broadcast as part of the Frankfurt Studio stream. Language - English.
Event title: Untapped potential of Arabic Literature - a review of new and classic works that have not yet been translated yet.
Speakers:
- Kevin Blankinship (Poet, Critic, and translator, Professor of Arabic Literature at BYU College).
- Chip Rossetti (Editorial Director, Library of Arabic Literature).
- Yasmina Jraissati (Publishing Manager of Storytel, Dubai).
- Moderator: Porter Anderson (Editor-in-Chief of Publishing Perspectives)
Friday 22 October: SZBA in collaboration with Litprom
12pm - 1pm (GMT+2)
Location - In the Agora, as part of the Frankfurt Studio: Inside Publishing programme
Panel talk in hybrid format on stage and streamed to the Frankfurter Buchmesse website buchmesse.de. Language - English.
Event title: Publishing Arab Literature – Difficulties and Experiences from a publisher's perspective
Speakers:
- Rasha Al Ameer (Publisher, Dar Al Jadeed and SZBA 2021 winner Publishing & Technology Award).
- Yasmina Jraissati (Publishing Manager of Storytel, Dubai).
- Piero Salabè (Editor of Hanser Verlag, Munich).
- Moderator: Lena Bopp (Editor at FAZ).
1pm - 2pm (GMT+2)
Location - In the Agora, as part of the Frankfurt Studio: Inside Publishing programme
Panel talk in hybrid format on stage and streamed to the Frankfurter Buchmesse website buchmesse.de. Language - English.
Event title: It’s only a children’s book – The complexity of the supposedly simple
- a panel discussion on the translation of The Lilac Girl by Ibtisam Barakat from Arabic into German.
Speakers:
- Ibtisam Barakat (Author, Artist and winner SZBA 2020 Children’s Literature Award).
- Madjid Mohit (Publisher and Executive Director of Sujet Verlag).
- Suleman Taufiq (Author, Translator).
- Moderator: Leila Chammaa (Translator).
Madjid Mohit (Publisher and Executive Director of Sujet Verlag) said: "With the support of the SZBA, we are hoping to establish dialogues between the German and Arabic-speaking worlds by presenting Arabic voices in the German language. Our shared idea is to make the Arab literary scene more visible by building bridges between the two."
Newly translated titles through the Sheikh Zayed Book Award Translation Grant
The Sheikh Zayed Book Award stand will showcase a selection of newly translated titles made possible through the Sheikh Zayed Book Award Translation Grant in 2021. Titles include:
- Hatless, by Lateefa Buti SZBA2017 winner in the Children’s category – translated to English by Darf Publishers (translated by Nancy Roberts).
- The Lilac Girl, by Ibtisam Barakat SZBA2020 winner in the Children’s Literature category - translated to German by Sujet Verlag (Suleman Taufiq).
- 30 Poems for Children, by Jawdat Fakhr Eldine SZBA 2014 winner in the Children’s Literature category - translated to French by Bookland Press (Hana Jaber).
- 30 Poems for Children, by Jawdat Fakhr Eldine SZBA 2014 winner in the Children’s Literature category - translated to English by Bookland Press (Huda Fakhreddine).
- Remorse Test, by Khalil Sweileh, SZBA2018 winner in the literature category – translated to German by Sujet Verlag (translated by Suleman Taufiq).
- The Mad Men of Bethlehem, by Osama Alaysa SZBA2015 winner in the literature category – translated to Georgian by Intelekti Publishing (translated by Darejan Gardavadze).
Robert Morgan, General Manager of BookLand Press, Canada said: “The Sheikh Zayed Book Award translation grants provide BookLand Press and other international books written by contemporary Arab authors. By publishing translated books from the Arab world, BookLand Press is able to introduce North American readers to new voices, fresh perspectives, and innovative ideas.”
Gvantsa Jobava, Editor/International Relations Manager, Intelekti Publishing, Georgia said: “ During the 25 years of its existence, the publishing house has introduced a number of famous modern Arab writers’ works into the Georgian book market (amongst which are the novels Miramar, Rhadopis of Nubia, and Children of Gebelawi by Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz, the novel Gold Dust written by the contemporary Libyan classic writer Ibrahim al-Koni, two novels by contemporary Lebanese woman writer Iman Humaydan Younes: B as in Beirut and Other Lives’, and Death is hard work by Khaled
Khalifa) and all those works have been greatly appreciated and liked by Georgian readers which gives us the certitude to say that modern Arabic literature is an interesting and intelligible read for Georgian people.”
The Sheikh Zayed Book Award stand will be located at the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center stand in Hall 4.1/G5.