ABU DHABI // The Sheikh Zayed Book Award on Thursday revealed its shortlist of contenders.
The list, for the 10th year of the award, includes two titles in French, one in English and four publishing houses.
The titles named are nominated for the Arab Culture in Other Languages award, while the publishing houses – Asala Publishing and Dar Al Saqi from Lebanon, Obeikan Publishing, from Saudi Arabia and Dar Toubqal from Morocco – have been nominated for the Publishing and Technology award.
The English title nominated is The Medieval Islamic Republic of Letter, Arabic Knowledge Construction, by Iraqi writer Muhsin J Al Musawi, a work of literary history.
The book presented a compelling argument against the commonly held opinion that Arabic literature, since the Abbasids, has failed to become modern.
The first shortlisted French title is Angles et Grandeur, written by Egyptian author Roshdi Rashed, while the second is Les Elites Bagdadiennes au Temps des Seldjoukides, by French researcher Vanessa van Renterghem.
Book award winners will be announced in the next couple of weeks, followed by the announcement of the Cultural Personality of the Year.
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Company profile
Company name: Fasset
Started: 2019
Founders: Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Daniel Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices
Points classification after Stage 4
1. Arnaud Demare (France / FDJ) 124
2. Marcel Kittel (Germany / Quick-Step) 81
3. Michael Matthews (Australia / Sunweb) 66
4. Andre Greipel (Germany / Lotto) 63
5. Alexander Kristoff (Norway / Katusha) 43
The struggle is on for active managers
David Einhorn closed out 2018 with his biggest annual loss ever for the 22-year-old Greenlight Capital.
The firm’s main hedge fund fell 9 per cent in December, extending this year’s decline to 34 percent, according to an investor update viewed by Bloomberg.
Greenlight posted some of the industry’s best returns in its early years, but has stumbled since losing more than 20 per cent in 2015.
Other value-investing managers have also struggled, as a decade of historically low interest rates and the rise of passive investing and quant trading pushed growth stocks past their inexpensive brethren. Three Bays Capital and SPO Partners & Co., which sought to make wagers on undervalued stocks, closed in 2018. Mr Einhorn has repeatedly expressed his frustration with the poor performance this year, while remaining steadfast in his commitment to value investing.
Greenlight, which posted gains only in May and October, underperformed both the broader market and its peers in 2018. The S&P 500 Index dropped 4.4 per cent, including dividends, while the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, an early indicator of industry performance, fell 7 per cent through December. 28.
At the start of the year, Greenlight managed $6.3 billion in assets, according to a regulatory filing. By May, the firm was down to $5.5bn.
A general guide to how active you are:
Less than 5,000 steps - sedentary
5,000 - 9,999 steps - lightly active
10,000 - 12,500 steps - active
12,500+ - highly active
RESULT
Leeds United 1 Manchester City 1
Leeds: Rodrigo (59')
Man City: Sterling (17')
Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moreno (Leeds)
The figures behind the event
1) More than 300 in-house cleaning crew
2) 165 staff assigned to sanitise public areas throughout the show
3) 1,000+ social distancing stickers
4) 809 hand sanitiser dispensers placed throughout the venue