Back to Winners
Translation 2015
Hanawa Haruo (1931-2016)
Japan
Born in Japan in 1931, Hanawa Haruo started his career in Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs which paved the way for him to move to the Arab World to study Arabic in Egypt and continue his service in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and be later appointed an Ambassador in Qatar and Oman from 1988 to 1994. He has many original works and translations published under his name. His translations have been mainly influenced by the works of Naguib Mahfouz, publishing more than 10 translated works to Japanese from the iconic author’s collection, most recent of which is the trilogy between 2011 and 2012 which won him the Sheikh Zayed Book Award.