Egyptian writer Bahaa’ Taher won the inaugural International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel Sunset Oasis a book that explores one man”s existential crisis.
The $50,000 prize, announced at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi, aims to secure recognition for outstanding Arabic authors and to ensure that their works will be translated. Each of the six finalists, including Taher, won $10,000.
Born in Giza in 1935, Taher has published 14 original books as well as many translations from English and French. In Sunset Oasis he turns a journey into a metaphor for “the existential crisis of a defeated man,” the judges said when they selected the book as a finalist in January. Taher has created an outstanding work of fiction that “deals with many broad human questions,” the panel said.
Last April, Watani International printed a critical review by Robeir al-Faris of the novel.
Taher was one of two Egyptian writers who made the shortlist. The other Egyptian, Mekkawi Saïd was nominated for Swan Song, Jordanian Elias Farkouh for The Land of Purgatory, and Syrian Khaled Khalifa for In Praise of Hatred, a book banned in his country. Two Lebanese authors also made the final round: Jabbour Douaihy was cited for June Rain, and May Menassa made the cut with Walking in the Dust.
Modeled on Britain”s prestigious, Man Booker Prize, the contest is funded by the Emirates Foundation, a philanthropic organisation based in Abu Dhabi. Tetra Pak heiress Sigrid Rausing, who owns UK publishers Granta and Portobello, has pledged to fund an English translation of the winner.