Published On 15/12/2025
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Last update: 18:18 (Mecca time)
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction announced the long list of nominated novels in the 2026 cycle, as the list includes 16 novels out of 137 nominated novels.
According to a statement by the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, the long list was selected by a jury consisting of 5 members, headed by the Tunisian researcher and critic Muhammad Al-Qadi, and the membership of Shaker Nouri (an Iraqi writer and translator), Diaa Al-Kaabi (a Bahraini academic and critic), Laila Hee Won-baek (a South Korean academic), and Maya Abu Al-Hayat (a Palestinian writer and translator).
The long list for the award included novels by writers from 10 Arab countries: 4 writers from Egypt, 3 writers from Algeria, 2 writers from Lebanon, and one writer each from Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iraq, Oman, Morocco, and Yemen.
The current session of the award witnessed the nomination of longlisted writers who had previously reached the final stages of the award, namely Abdel-Wahab Issawi (winner of the award 2020), Saeed Khatibi (shortlisted 2020), Abdelmajid Sabata (shortlisted 2021), Ahmed Abdel Latif (longlisted 2018 and 2023), Omaima Al-Khamis (longlisted 2010, 2019), and Amin Al-Zawi (longlisted). Al-Taweelah 2013, 2018, 2024).
Different worlds
According to the statement of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction – which is sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Center for the Arabic Language of the Department of Culture and Tourism – the novels nominated for the long list take us “to different worlds and times, from the civilizations of the Middle East 4,000 years ago, to the future city of Cairo where humans are on the verge of extinction, and from Omani and Yemeni villages in the late twentieth century, to a Japanese prison at the present time.”
The novels also “follow the political and social transformations in Algeria, Iraq, and other countries over the course of decades, and depict the internal conflicts of individuals who commit crimes motivated by jealousy, politics, or because of psychological illness.”
The following are the titles of the novels that reached the long list for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for the year 2026:
Origin of Species – Ahmed Abdel Latif (Egypt)
Al-Mashreq’s aunt – Umaima Al-Khamis (Saudi Arabia)
Nap Dreams – Amin Zaoui (Algeria)
Bride’s Water – Khalil Sweileh (Syria)
A Cloud Above My Head – Doaa Ibrahim (Egypt)
Aghlab the course of the river – Said Khatibi (Algeria)
Al-Bairaq, The Wind Blows – Sharifa Al-Toubi (Oman)
The Seer – Dhia Jubaili (Iraq)
The Isolation of the Kangaroo – Abdel Salam Ibrahim (Egypt)
In the mazes of Professor F. n. – Abdelmadjid Sabata (Morocco)
Life is not a novel – Abdo Wazen (Lebanon)
Grandma Touma’s Rope – Abdel Wahab Issaoui (Algeria)
Hiding in a Hamster Wheel – Essam El-Zayat (Egypt)
Five houses for God and a room for my grandmother – Marwan Al-Ghafouri (Yemen)
The absence of Mai – Najwa Barakat (Lebanon)
Days of the Murdered Fatimid – Nizar Chaqroun (Tunisia)