Desert blossoms with fresh Arabic writing
Literary workshop mentors 8 new writers
abu dhabi — An eight-day “laboratory” that sought to add more power to the pens of Arabic writers, especially young authors, ended Tuesday with a collection of new writings.
The desert resort of Qasr Al Sharab in Liwa came alive with a variety of narratives and literary styles crafted by eight promising writers from the Mena region who blossomed at the nadwa — workshop – mentored by established authors like Mohammed Achaari, the 2011 “Arabic Booker” winner for his novel The Arch and the But
terfly, and Lebanese May Menassa, whose Walking in the Dust has won much acclaim.
The workshop, the fifth in the series, was organised by the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) with the sponsorship of Shaikh Hamdan bin Zayed AlNahyan, Ruler’s Representative in the Western Region.
“The secluded Qasr Al Sarab was the right place for the eight
nadwa writers to create new work,” said Menassa, who was on the 2008 IPAF shortlist. Moroccan Achaari called the
nadwa a laboratory for new Arabic novel and short-story writing.
The participating authors, he said, were interested in the lives of individuals as well as the pressures of social change, using multiple means of expression to convey their thoughts.
The workshop helped “to bring these experiments to the fore and develop them”, he added.
The participants were chosen from various countries. Hicham Benchaoui came from Morocco, Abdullah Alobaid from Saudi Arabia, Ayman Otoom from Jordan, and Lulwah al-Mansuri from the UAE. Countries in turmoil have been seeing young authors shoot up despite the violence and deprivations. Samir Kacimi came from Algeria, Noha Mahmoud from Egypt, Bushra al-Maqtari from Yemen and Nasrin Trabulsi from Syria.
Each either wrote an entirely new literary text or completed something they had begun prior to the workshop. They explored and compared different styles, approaches and narrative techniques, which led to in-depth debates during the group sessions.
IPAF administrator Fleur Montanaro said the work produced during the nadwa will be published in an English/Arabic volume.
The IPAF, sponsored by the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, is run in association with UK’s Booker Prize Foundation. It promotes international readership of Arabic literature through translation.