The IPAF, or Arab Booker prize’s shortlist was announced earlier today in Doha, Arab Capital of Culture of 2010. The winner will be announced on March 14th, 2011 in Abu Dhabi.

As a literary agent specialized in representing Arabic literature for world translation rights, I am often asked how visible Arabic literature is on the international scene. This question most of the time translates into: ‘how many copies do books translated from the Arabic sell?’

A fine shortlist of nominees for the third ‘Arabic Booker’ has so far been overshadowed by manufactured controversy, Youssef Rakha writes.
* By Youssef Rakha, published in The National

Frankfurt 2004, London 2008, BEA 2009 all three international events featured the ‘Arab world’ as a focus – not to mention the Turin 2009 fair, which a couple of years after turning into an international event had Egypt as a guest of honor. The least we can say is that the ‘Arab world’ is getting a lot of attention in the international publishing industry, after having been reported missing for years.

The IPAF’s, or Arab Man Booker prize awarded in Abu Dhabi, long list of 16 titles was very recently published!

The 16 titles below were chosen out of the 121 titles presented for the competition by Arab publishers.

Specially noticeable this year in Hall 5 was the presence of the ADACH’s, the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage Foundation, and the MBR’s, the Mohammad Bin Rached al Maktoum foundation, Dubai, bold stands.