Meet the Three Arab Writers Longlisted for This American Literary Prize
Last week, for the 13th year, the American Literary Prize’s Best Translated Book Awards (BTBA), awarded by Rochester University, named its 2020 longlists for fiction and poetry. The list, which represents 20 countries, featured three Arab writers, a Syrian, a Lebanese-American, and an Iraqi.
The three longlisted Arab writers were Khaled Khalifa for his book “Death is Hard Work” (Al-Mawt Amal Shaq), translated from Arabic by Leri Price, Lebanese-American poet Etel Adnan for her poetry book “Time” (Al-Qareb Al-Layli), translated from French by Sarah Riggs, as well as Iraqi novelist Sinan Antoon for his novel “Fihris”, translated from Arabic by Jonathan Wright.
Here’s a little bit of background on the three talented writers.
Khaled Khalifa
Born in 1964 and one of thirteen siblings, Khaled Khalifa is a Syrian novelist who has written screenplays, contributed to newspapers, and published five novels. Longlisted for BTBA, his fifth novel “Death is Hard Work”, was also named a finalist for the National Book Award for Translated Literature 2019.
Etel Adnan
Etel Adnan is a Lebanese-American poet whose words were put to music by contemporary musicians like Zad Moultaka. Adnan is also a painter and sculptor, whose work has been exhibited in galleries across the world. She was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, one of the highest cultural honors, by the French government in 2014.
Sinan Antoon
Sinan Antoon is an Iraqi novelist, translator, poet, and scholar. Antoon has served as part of the juries of the National Book Award and the PEN Prize, is the co-founder and co-editor of Jadaliyya, and has co-produced and co-directed a documentary film about his home country, Iraq, titled “About Baghdad”.
Stay tuned, as the shortlists for the fiction and poetry awards are set to be announced in May!
