A colorful collection ranging from literary creative works to translations from four different languages

Sheikh Zayed Book Award Longlist Announced in “Children’s Literature” & “Translation” As it prepares to wrap up its 7th session for the year 2012/2013, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award announced its longlist of book titles for two of its categories; “Children’s Literature” and “Translation”. The announcement comes after the Award’s Reading Panels concluded their work, filtering a total of 1262 works nominated for the Award’s diverse categories through September and October 2012. Fourteen books have been long-listed under both categories. The books in the children's literature [including adolescents’ books] longlist were filtered out of more than 100 contenders in this category. The prospects come from Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and UAE. Book title Author Publisher (Arbizi and Grandma Wardah) Al Arbizi wal Jaddah Wardah Muna Al Sharafi Arab Scientific Publishers, Beirut ,2012 (A story of an Oyster) Hikayat Mahara Flora Majdalawi Majdalawi Masterpieces, Amman, 2012 (Jameela's Eyes) Oyoun Jamilah Najla’ Jalal Al Sayyed Allam Al-Dar al-Masriah al-Lubnaniah, 2012 (The Warnings of March) Natheer Athar Riham Khaled Ba Hussein Dar Al Thafra, UAE, 2012 (To whom are the Olives for?) liman Al Zaytoun? Fatima Sharafuldeen Dar al-Saqi, Beirut 2012 Waste Planet (Kawkab Al Nifayat) Mikkawi Sa’eed Zahra’ Al Sharq Library, Beirut 2012 (Seven Souls) Saba’a Arwah Walid Taher Dar al Shurooq, Cairo 2012 (Tales of Fannoun) Hikayat Fannoun Sahar Abdullah Elias Modern Publishing, Cairo 2012 As for the “Translation” category, six books have made it to the longlist out of a total of 114 nominations received during this session. The selected works fall in four subcategories: Firstly – Works translated form Arabic to English, including “Mahmoud Darwish Absent Presence” by Dr. Mohammad Shaheen from Jordan, published by Hesperus Press, 2010. Secondly – Works translated from English to Arabic, including Mukhtasar Tareekh al-Adala (A Summarized History of Justice) published in London 2010, translated by Mustafa Nasser form Iraq, from the original work by David Johnston; and “When Languages Die” translated [from the original work by David Harrison] by Mohammad Mazen Galal from Egypt, published by KSU Riadh 2011.. Thirdly – Works translated from German to Arabic, including Jamalyyat al ada' (Aesthetics of Performance) by the German Author Erika Fischer, translated by Marwa Mahdi , Egypt in 2012; and Al Kaynoona Wal Zaman (Being and Time) for the German Philosopher Martin Hedgar, translated by Dr. Fathi Al Maskini from Tunisia (  Dar al-Kitab al-Jedeed, Beirut 2012. Fourthly – Works translated from French to Arabic, including Madkhal ila 'alam al Tarjama  (An Introduction to the Science of Translation) translated by Mohammad Tijjo from Syria from the original work by Matthew Geder. Published by KSU, Riadh 2012. Meanwhile, the Award’s judging panels work is in progress since November 11, to evaluate the long listed books. The assessment results will be collectively evaluated by the Scientific Committee of the Award to produce a short list which will again be evaluated to choose the winner of each category.  The winners are scheduled for announcement in February 2012, and the Award’s Presentation Ceremony, celebrating the winning achievements, will be held at Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions on 25th April next year. Last year,  Abdo Wazen from Lebanon won the “Children’s Literature”  title for his novel “The Boy Who Saw the Color of Air”, while Abu Yarub Al Marzouqi from Tunisia was named winner of “Translation” Award for his book “A Prelude to Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy” translated from of the work of Edmund Horsel in German. The award comprises of nine categories where the total monetary prize stands at seven million UAE dirhams. Each prize consists of a gold medal bearing the SZBA logo, a certificate of merit and 750,000.00 Dirhams. The Cultural Personality of the Year winner receives a prize of one million dirhams.