The prize, which aims at rewarding excellence in Arabic creative writing, was launched in Abu Dhabi in 2007. Apart the $10,000 that awarded to each finalist, and the $50,000 awarded to the winner, the prize also supports translation.

Published by Kirkus Reviews, September 13th, 2017
A cross-section of life in one Tripoli neighborhood, from a wealthy resident to a housecleaner to a terrorist. This brisk and affecting novel by veteran Lebanese writer Douaihy (June Rain, 2015, etc.) is set during the early stages of the Iraq War and follows three archetypal characters.

By Florence Noiville, for Le Monde, publisher on December 21st, 2017

Lebanese novelist Jabbour Douaihy offers a fake thriller, but a real comedy, tribute to Arabic writing and printing.
Here is a Lebanese novel that is far from the stereotypes of Europeans on Middle Eastern literature. There are no reminiscences of war, no religious questions, no community issues. It is about Beirut, the history of which is told through that of a printing press, starting 1914. But it is also about the laughable posture of the contemporary writer.
From the first lines, the humor of Jabbour Douaihy prevails.

Yazbek lets the child testify, a review by Mattia Hagberg, for GP, Sweden, October 2017
How do you describe a modern war? How do you put words on the most horrendous? These questions are all over the Syrian author and journalist Samar Yazbek’s novel The Blue Pen.
Trapped in a basement in Damascus, Rima is sitting and writing and drawing. She is a forgotten girl  in Syria’s hell. Nobody knows that she is sitting there waiting to be rescued.