Tuesday October 31st was the wrap up of the Sharjah International Book Fair fellowship program, which is held ahead of the book fair.

I’ve come so many times to this fellowship, I stopped counting. I’ve seen it grow over the years, to become probably one of the most important professional programs in the world, where this year, over 700 publishing professionals met, discussed, exchanged books and ideas, for three days.

The National Book Award, New York, announced its longlist. The shortlist will be revealed on October 3rd, and the winner announced on November 15.
Khaled Khalifa’s “No one prayed over their graves”, translated by Leri Price, published by FSG in the USA is amongst the longlisted. Khalifa’s previous novel “Death is hard work” was shortlisted to the National Book Award in 2019.
Publishers submitted a total of 154 books for the 2023 National Book Award for Translated Literature.

Created in 2013, the Lagardere-IMA Award for Arabic literature is one of the rare French prizes dedicated to Arabic literary creation. The award of 10,000 EUR promotes the work of a writer, citizen of one of the countries of the Arab league, translated into, or originally written in, French, between September 2022 and September 2023.
Samar Yazbek’s “La demeure du vent” (The wind’s abode,translated by Khaled Osman et Ola Mehanna) published by Stock, as well as Mansoura Ezeldin’s “Les jardins de Basra” (The orchards of Basra, translted into French by Philippe Vigreux) …

Samar Yazbek‘s novel “Planet of clay” (also known as The blue pen) is a finalist to the National Book Award, and is competing with 4 other titles in the translated fiction category!
Planet of clay was in the third and final selection of the French Femina award in 2018.
 

Yazbek is in the longlist of the presitigous National Book Award !
Publishers submitted a total of 164 books for the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature. The judges for Translated Literature are Stephen Snyder (Chair), Jessie Chaffee, Sergio de la Pava, Madhu H. Kaza, and Achy Obejas. Judge’s decisions are made independently of the National Book Foundation staff and Board of Directors and deliberations are strictly confidential.
Winners in all categories will be announced live at the National Book Awards Ceremony on November 17.

For the second year in a row, RAYA is on the shortlist of the London Book Fair International Excellence Awards – Literary Agent category!
 
The awards, held in partnership with the UK Publishers Association, celebrate publishing success in 16 categories, representing the best publishing ambassadors, innovative publishing, and ground-breaking initiatives in the industry. In each award category, the judging panel was comprised of experts in that sector.