The full post can be read on ArabLit’s website [1] (published on April 24th, 2018). Below is an excerpt:
Nasrallah — born in a Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan — is no stranger to the IPAF, having been on four of the prize’s 11 longlists. His Ottoman-era historical novel Time of White Horses made the 2009 shortlist, and has since been translated by Nancy Roberts. Nasrallah’s longlisted The Lanterns of the King of Galilee [2] was also translated by Roberts.
This was the first time for Nasrallah to win the prize.
Nasrallah is perhaps best-known for his “Palestinian Comedy” project, a wide-ranging series of novels in the spirit of Balzac’s “La Comédie Humaine.” Nasrallah is also a poet, artist, photographer, and social activist.
Each year, film interviews [3] are made with each of the IPAF-shortlisted writers. In his interview, available online [4], Nasrallah said that he’d written the winning novel to “provoke” and “worry” the reader. He added, in a subtitled translation provided by IPAF organizers, that “The Second War of the Dog is, in my opinion, a warning of what we could become in the future.” And: “The novel suggests that if we continue on our current path, we will reach a future where we would become mostly annihilistic.”
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[5]Nasrallah – an interesting interview for The Arab Edition “In this novel there are aspects of sci-fi, frivolity, fantasy, black comedy and also exoticism.” [5]
[6]Ibrahim Nasrallah wins the Arab Man Booker – or International Prize for Arabic Fiction 2018 [6]
[7]Publishing Perspectives, Nasrallah’s The Second Dog War is about “loss of certainty; loss of trust” [7]
[8]Acclaimed Algerian author Waciny Laredj about Nasrallah’s “Second Dog War”: A work by “one of the most important Arab voices”, “reminiscent of Buzatti” [8]
[9]The shortlist for the IPAF, Arab Booker Prize has just been announced! [9]
[10]Wannous and Nasrallah among the 6 finalists of the Arab Man Booker (International Prize for Arabic Fiction) [10]
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