Katara Arabic novels fest from tomorrow

The fourth Katara Festival of Arabic Novels will open tomorrow at Katara — the Cultural Village with the participation of prominent writers and critics in Arabic fiction.

The festival will conclude on Wednesday. A major highlight of the festival is the awarding of the winners of the Katara Prize for Arabic Novels 2018.

The first day of the festival will witness the opening of the Katara Library of Arabic Novels on the Katara premises and an exhibition on the life and works of renowned Palestinian novelist Ghassan Kanafani.

The award carries cash prizes worth a total of $300,000 in the unpublished novels category. Each of the five winners will receive $60,000. The prize for unpublished novels category amounts to $150,000, equally divided into five winners, each getting $30,000. Each of the five winners in the unpublished critical studies category will get $15,000 taking it to a total of $75,000.

The award for unpublished novels by young writers totals $50,000, with each of the five winners getting $10,000.

The first day will see the launch of an innovative app by Katara named #mishwar_wariwaya that allows people to listen to audio version of select novels, while walking for physical exercise. A signing ceremony of books by winners of the Katara Prize for Arabic Novel 2017 will also take place on the day. The books, including novels and critical studies, are being published by Katara Publishing House under the auspices of the Katara Prize for Arabic Novel.

Events on the first day will conclude with a seminar on Ghassan Kanafani followed by screening of a film based on Kanafani’s novel Return to Haifa produced by Iraqi filmmaker Qassim Hawal.

As many as 1,283 entries were received for the current and latest edition of the Prize.