Qatar’s Katara Foundation Announces Winners of 2024 Arabic Novel Prize

DOHA: The Cultural Village Foundation (Katara) has revealed the winners of the prestigious 2024 Katara Prize for Arabic Novel, an accolade aimed at fostering creativity among Arab novelists and raising the profile of Arabic literature globally. The announcement was made on Thursday during a ceremony that is part of the Katara Arabic Novel Festival, a week-long event concluding on October 20. According to Kuwait News Agency, the Katara Prize, established in 2014, is awarded across six categories: published novel, unpublished novel, young adult novel, unpublished historical novel, critical studies, and the Qatari novel. This year, the prize for published Arabic novel was shared by three authors: Alaa Hleihel from Palestine for "saba rasael ila Umm-Kolthoum" (seven messages to Umm-Kolthoum), Mohammad Tarzi from Lebanon for "microphone katem li al-sout" (muffler microphone), and Yousef Hussein from Egypt for "bayadeq wa nishan" (pawns and badges). The prize for unpublished novel recognized the works of Algerian Qwaider Maymouni for "el mamino de la moirti," Syrian Liza Khedr for "haet al-fadiha" (wall of scandal), and Moroccan Yassin Kenni for "abath." Meanwhile, the critical studies category honored three critics: Abal-Qasem Eisani from Algeria, Bu-Yousef Al-Sawri from Morocco, and Hashem Merghani from Sudan. The young adult novel category was also co-shared by Abu-Bakr Hammadi of Algeria, Shaima Jamal-Eddin of Egypt, and Alaa Al-Jaber of Iraq. The award for unpublished historical novel was given to Dhia Jbeili of Iraq. Lastly, the prize for Qatari novel was awarded to Kalthoum Al-Kawari for her work "freij ben derham." This year's festival coincides with World Novel Week, an initiative that began at the 41st session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2021, celebrated annually from October 13 to 20. Dr. Khaled bin Ibrahim Al-Sulaiti, General Manager of Katara, highlighted the significance of this cultural event in his address at the ceremony.