Youssef Ziedan Wins the International Prize for Arabic Fiction
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Alexandria— Dr. Youssef Ziedan, Director of the BA Manuscript Center and Museum, was awarded on Monday, 16 March 2009 the Second International Prize for Arabic Fiction, commonly known as the Arabic Booker, for his novel Azazil (Beelzebub). Six Arabic novels only were short listed among 120 novels.
Ziedan will receive USD 50,000 as well as a guarantee that his work will be translated into English. He stated that the prize is a turning point in his literary career and a push forward towards more creativity.
Tracing the period following the Roman Empire's adoption of the “new” religion, the novel highlights the subsequent internal doctrinal conflicts rising amongst the Fathers of the Church on one hand, and between the “new” believers and receding paganism on the other. “Azaail” is another name for the devil. The hero is an Egyptian Monk, Heba, who was born in the Egyptian South. Yet the novel also take place in Alexandria, Egypt and the North of Syria.
The Prize was officially established in Abu Dhabi in April 2007, in association with the UK's prestigious Booker Prize Foundation, and with the support of the Emirates Foundation. The First Arabic Booker was also granted to an Egyptian Novelist, Bahaa Taher for his novel Wahet El-Ghoroub (Sunset Oasis).