More Arabs find the write stuff

More and younger Arab writers are turning away from penning academic books to focus more on novels, poetry and short stories.

"Writings often reflect what is happening in a society," says Abdullah Majid Al Ali.

ABU DHABI // More young Arab writers are rediscovering the world of literature and imagination, says the executive manager of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award.

"The Arab world always wrote, and expressed itself best through its writings. But recently, there is a change in the fundamental type of issues explored through the written world," said Abdullah Majid Al Ali.

"Overall, it seems there is a lot of interest in writing from younger Arabs and more in the areas of art and literature. There is also growing interest in writing children's books, particularly from the GCC."

Established in 2006 under the patronage of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach), the award each year recognises outstanding Arab writers, intellectuals and publishers from across the world.

This year, the award has received 560 nominated works from 25 countries, most from Arab countries, as well as some from Europe and Canada. Fifty-eight works have been shortlisted in nine categories, with the winners to be announced in February.

"The submissions are getting much better in terms of the quality of actual writing and presentation of the book itself," said Mr Al Ali, who is an avid reader. "Topics never written about in the Arab world are showing up in our submissions."

Mr Al Ali would not name any specific nominated work out of respect for the confidentiality clause, but said the writers were "pushing their own limits" and writing differently than their predecessors.

"Some are sticking to the classical way of writing, but many are showing up written in more casual, spoken Arabic, often containing terminologies popular of a particular culture and time," he said. "Writings often reflect what is happening in a society."

Each of the nine categories of the award is overseen by a committee of three judges or a referee. The categories are: best contribution to the development of nations, children's literature, young author, translation, literature, fine arts, best technology in the field of culture, best publishing house, and cultural personality of the year.

Over the years, there have been more submissions in fine arts, on childhood-related topics and children's stories. These compare with the traditional, more academic writings in the Middle East that focused on politics, history and religion.

The literature category includes poetry, short stories and novels. It always receives the highest number of submissions. This year, literature represented 26.42 per cent of the total submissions. The young authors (under age 40) category came in at 25 per cent, and "best contribution to the development of nations" was third at 21.25 per cent.

At the other end of the scale, the technology category consistently elicits one of the lowest numbers of submissions, with just five to 10 a year.

This year, 10 made the cut, compared with none last year, and 13 the year before. No one has won in this category, as judges determined that the work was not strong enough.

The largest number of submissions has come consistently from Egypt, followed by Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. This year, the trend continued in the 560 submissions, with 187 from Egypt, 43 from Syria, 42 from Jordan, and 41 each from Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Contributions from the UAE increased more than four-fold from last year. The UAE accounted for 34 submissions, compared with just eight last year.

"Since the award allows anyone to send in their work, you get to see a wealth of writings that didn't get any exposure or chance before," Mr Al Ali said. "Other studies so far have shown that Arabs don't read as much as the rest of the world, but seeing the quality of writing that is coming in and from younger generations, that may be changing."

Overall, the number of submissions is down from previous years. Last year, there were 610 submissions; the year before, it was 690. The first year of the award saw the largest number of submissions, at 1,224. The reasons behind the decreases have yet to be determined.

The award has undergone some changes since its inception.

In September, a new board of trustees was named to direct the contest. Unlike in previous years, this year's advisory council includes people from around the world. They have not yet met to discuss the nominations.

Last year, one of the award winners was stripped of the honour and a prize of Dh750,000 after he was found to have committed plagiarism. Dr Hafnaoui Baali had taken large passages from another book and passed it off as his own in Comparative Cultural Criticism: an Introduction. The book from which Dr Baali lifted passages was Cultural Criticism: A Look at Arab Cultural Patterns, written by Dr Abdullah Al Ghathami. Dr Al Ghathami, a member of the award's advisory council, resigned from his post upon hearing about the scandal.

"We want to fold that chapter, and just say that we will be stricter and more careful with how the works are analysed," Mr Al Ali said. "Unfortunately, plagiarism is made easier because of the internet."