Ibn Rushd Foundation for the Freedom of Thought is an association based in Germany, whose members are from the Arab diaspora or live across various Arab countries. It takes its name after the philosopher Ibn Rushd (1126-1198), taking it upon itself to support free thought and democratic forces in the Arab world by offering an annual prize. The award is independent, funded by contributions from its members and donations from supporters, with no link to any political or ideological trends. The award’s topic change each year.

The Award for Arabic literature, worth €10,000, was created by the Arab world institute (Institut du monde arabe, Paris), and the Jean-Luc Lagardère Foundation (Paris).
The award is presided by Pierre Leroy, Co-manager of Lagardère SCA, and is composed of several personalities from the worlds of media, arts, culture, as well as specialists of the Arab world. A vast majority of the jury elected Mohammed Hasan Alwan’s novel, which was also previously shortlisted for the International Prize of Arabic Fiction, IPAF (or Arab Man Booker).
The prize will be awarded on October 14th 2015 …

Yazbek’s “The crossing: My journey to the shattered heart of Syria” is out in the UK today! Published by Rider Books, Ebury, Penguin Random House.
Rights to this book were also sold to
Stock, France, t0 appear in October 2015
Hanser, Nagel & Kimche, Switzerland (German),  to appear in August 2015
Ordfront, Sweden, to appear in September 2015
Cappelen Damm, Norway, to appear in the fall 2015
 
 

In The crossing, Yazbek describes the transformation of the Syrian conflict from a popular uprising to a monstrous war dominated by religious extremism. Syrians have been robbed of their revolution as the world watches in silence. 

Watch on youtube!
Yazbek: “Isis kills 10 people, and the world is outraged. Asad kills thousands, and the world watches in silence”.

Jabbour Douaihy’s novel “June rain” was acquired by Turner Libros. It was published this week.
June rain was published in French (Actes Sud), English (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation), Italian (Feltrinelli), German (Hanser), and will appear in Turkish soon. Visit the book’s page on this website.