‘Meet the 2019 Winners’ Seminar at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

Date April, 25 2019
Location Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

The winners of the 13th annual Sheikh Zayed Book Award, gathered during the 2019 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) for a special panel session, with fans having the chance to pose questions to the famed authors as they discussed their winning works.

The winners were introduced by Dr Ali Bin Tamim, Secretary General of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, and Professor Dr Khalil Al Sheikh, a seasoned researcher, critic and translator.

During the gathering on the Main Stage, Dr Bin Tamim told the packed audience: "The Sheikh Zayed Book Award will always be loyal to objectivity and we are delighted to be gathered here in the presence of the winners of the award.”

Dr. Al Sheikh said that the Sheikh Zayed Book Award is "an honour and an exploration and the cultural knowledge of the Arab world" and shed a light on both established and new writing talent.

Among those who were honoured were Moroccan writer and novelist Bensalem Himmich, who won the ‘Literature’ category award; Kuwaiti author Hussain Almutawaa, who won the ‘Children’s Literature’ category; and Algerian scholar Dr Abderrezak Belagrouz, winner of the ‘Young Author’ category. In the ‘Literary and Art Criticism’ category, scholar Dr Charbel Dagher from Lebanon won the award for his book Contemporary Arabic Poetry. The ‘Arab Culture in Other Languages’ category was won by British academic and researcher Philip F. Kennedy, while the UAE’s Arab Centre for Geographic Literature – Irtiyad al-Afaq won the ‘Publishing and Technology’ category award. Arabic scholars Professor Jaroslav Stetkevych and Professor Suzanne Stetkevych won the ‘Cultural Personality of the Year’ category.