Algerian Ahmed Tebawi wins the Naguib Mahfouz Prize for Literature

Algerian novelist Ahmed Tebawi won the Naguib Mahfouz Prize for Literature for 2021, which is awarded by the American University in Cairo Press, valued at $ 5,000.
Tebawi, born in 1980, won the award for the novel “The Disappearance of Mr. Nobody”, published by the publication “Dhifaf / Difference” in 2019.

In its 24th session, the award committee received about 270 novels, 6 of which were selected for the short list that was announced last February.

The award ceremony was held through the “Zoom” application, with the participation of short-listed writers, the jury, a number of publishers and journalists, in addition to the President of the American University in Cairo, Frances Richardoni.

The jury was formed under the chairmanship of Professor of Comparative English Literature at Cairo University, Sherine Abul-Naga, and the membership of the British translator Humphrey Davis, the Syrian writer Thaer Deeb, the Egyptian translator Samah Selim, as well as the Egyptian critic Heba Sharif.

The jury said in the rationale for awarding the award: “In this convincing and elaborately crafted novel, Taybawi plays the poetics of melancholic literature to present a dark and surprising criticism of the post-colonial Arab state and its myths.”

She added: “The novel has very stressful events and the main character is exposed to many existential and life crises. Despite the darkness of the novel, its sarcastic, concise and poetic language at the same time, and the woven artistic construction that drew from the police plot is suspenseful, attracts the reader to read it to the end, to find The characters are almost all (Mr. Nobody). ”

The Naguib Mahfouz Prize for Literature was established in 1996 and is presented for the best contemporary novel in Arabic that was published in two years. The American University in Cairo Press is translating the winning novel into English.

Source: “Reuters”