Sheikh Zayed Book Award winners honoured
ABU DHABI — Eight winners of the 12th Sheikh Zayed Book Awards were honoured in the Capital on Monday.
Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, presented the awards to the winners and the event was attended by ministers, senior officials, diplomats and others.
The Sheikh Zayed Book Award, which was launched in 2007, aims to bring global attention to Arabic writers and publishers, while promoting and enhancing creativity.
The prizes for the award total a whopping Dh7 million, with Dh750,000 awarded to each recipient. The eight winners were chosen from 337 nominations across the Mena region and a total of 1,250 nominated works were carefully assessed by a panel of reading judges.
Emirati author Hessa Al Muhairi, who won the prize for Children’s
I want the message in the story to be about acceptance and children to know that people with determination are not any different from you and me.” Hessa Al Muhairi, Emirati Literature, told Khaleej Times that writing for children is not only her job, but it is her passion. “I am a kindergarten teacher, which is why I truly love working with children.
“I believe that the age between four and seven years are sensitive and important, so the stories and even the illustrations should appeal to the children in a way that teaches them meanings about life and acceptance.” The 30-year-old said her first reaction after hearing that she won the prize was pure joy.
“I just felt so happy and honoured, because this is a Sheikh Zayed award and it’s the Year of Zayed.”
Al Muhairi is currently working
I play oud and I have a great passion for oriental music, so this was a prominent theme in my novel. Words cannot describe how I feel after winning.” Ahmed Al Qarmalawi, Egyptian on her third book, which focuses on people with determination.
“I want the message in the upcoming story to be about acceptance, I want the children to know that people with determination are not any different from you and me, and they can sometimes even be better than us and achieve more than us.”
Her winning story, The Dinoraf — which combined the words dinosaur and giraffe — sends an underlying message of tolerance within society and across cultures.
“The story is about a dinosaur who is trying to find his family, but during his journey, he finds different animals who would send him to
It’s wonderful for the book to have this attention, because this means it will reach out in the Arab world and will find a different readership than before.” Sag Nikolaus Hasse, German other animals.” However, at the end of the story, the dinosaur finds a family of giraffes, who adopt him and he is finally given a home.
“I wrote this story because I wanted the children to know what it’s like to be forgiving and to treating everyone around you equally, because even if we look differently or come from different backgrounds, at the end of the day, we should all be connected and should all feel happy together.”
Ahmed Al Qarmalawi, who won the award for Young Author for his novel Amtar Sayfiyyah (Summer Rains), said that it was his love for oriental music that drove the novel to a success. “I play oud and I have a great passion for oriental music, so this was a prominent theme in my novel. Words cannot describe how I feel after winning this award, I am overwhelmed with joy,” said the author, who has so far published four books.
Germany’s Sag Nikolaus Hasse, the winner of Arab Culture in Other Languages, said being awarded for ‘Success and Suppression: Arabic Sciences and Philosophy in the Renaissance in Europe,’ is an immense accomplishment in his lengthy career.
“The book is about the Arabic culture and the Arab influence in the Renaissance. It’s wonderful for the book to have this attention, because this means it will reach out in the Arab world and will find a different readership than before,” said the professor of history and philosophy.
Institut Du Monde Arabe, Paris, (Arab World Institute) won the ‘Cultural Personality of the Year’ title. A spokesperson of the institution said the prize is not just a symbol of literature and writing, but a symbol of unification between one another.
The institute was established in 1980 and aims to promote cooperation and cultural exchange between France and the Arab world.