By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
A Shortlist Is Scheduled for December 1
In England, the 19th edition of the London-based Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, has drawn the same number of submissions, 19 titles submitted by 14 publishers.
This longlist features 10 novels, two short story collections, three poetry collections, two memoirs—one of them a graphic memoir—as well as one literary biography and one work of young adult fiction.
One author as two entries: there are 18 authors behind this list, and 20 translators, two of which have two entries.
The prize is £3,000 (US$3,984) and is presented to the translator(s) of a published translation in English of a full-length Arabic work published after or during the year 1967 and first published in English translation in the year prior to the award.
The winner of the 2023 Ghobash Banipal Prize was won by Luke Leafgren for his translation of ‘Mister N’ by Najwa Barakat, published by And Other Stories
The program was established by Banipal, the magazine of modern Arab literature in English translation, and the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature. The inaugural prize was awarded in 2006.
The Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize is administered by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom, alongside many other accolades for literary translation from languages that include Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.
Jurors in this year’s competition are Raphael Cohen (chair), a freelance translator; Michael Caines, editor at the Times Literary Supplement; Laura Watkinson, a translator mainly from Dutch into English; and Nariman Youssef, a translator and translation consultant.
The 2024 Banipal Longlist
The Banipal longlist effectively is formed by the number of entries received by organizers from publishers.
Yoghurt and Jam: Or How My Mother Became Lebanese by Lena Merhej, translated by Nadiyah Abdullatif and Anam Zafar (Balestier Press)- A Friend’s Kitchen by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi, translated by Bryar Bajalan and Shook (Poetry Translation Centre)
- Sour Grapes by Zakaria Tamer, translated by Alessandro Columbu and Mireia Costa Capallera (Syracuse University Press)
- The House of the Coptic Woman by Ashraf El-Ashmawi, translated by Peter Daniel (Hoopoe, an imprint of the American University of Cairo Press)
- Tales of Tangier: The Complete Short Stories of Mohamed Choukri by Mohamed Choukri, translated by Jonas Elbousty (Yale University Press)
- History of Ash by Khadija Marouazi, translated by Alexander E. Elinson (Hoopoe, an imprint of the American University of Cairo Press)
- I Will Not Fold These Maps by Mona Kareem, translated by Sara Elkamel (Poetry Translation Centre)
- Lost in Mecca by Bothayna Al-Essa, translated by Nada Faris (DarArab for Publishing and Translation)
- Rotten Evidence by Ahmed Naji, translated by Katharine Halls (McSweeney’s)
- Poison in the Air by Jabbour Douaihy, translated by Paula Haydar (Interlink Books)
- Before the Queen Falls Asleep by Huzama Habayeb, translated by Kay Heikkinen (MacLehose Press)
- Edo’s Souls by Stella Gaitano, translated by Sawad Hussain (Dedalus)
- The Djinn’s Apple by Djamila Morani, translated by Sawad Hussain (Neem Tree Press)
- The Baghdad Villa by Zuheir El-Hetti, translated by Samira Kawar (Interlink Books)
- Traces of Enayat by Iman Mersal, translated by Robin Moger (And Other Stories)
- Strangers in Light Coats: Selected Poems, 2014–2020 by Ghassan Zaqtan, translated by Robin Moger (Seagull Books)
- Rose’s Diaries by Reem Al Kamali, translated by Chip Rossetti (ELF Publishing)
- The Last Crossing by Badriya Al-Badri, translated by Katherine Van De Vate (DarArab for Publishing and Translation)
- An Old Carriage with Curtains by Ghassan Zaqtan, translated by Samuel Wilder (Seagull Books)
The prize is wholly sponsored by the Saif Ghobash family, “in memory of the late Saif Ghobash, husband and father, who was passionate about Arabic literature and other literatures of the world. The prize is named in his memory.
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