Shortlist Announced for IPAF 2012

Nasser Iraq smiling with his book

 Six shortlisted authors for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) 2012 were announced on 11 January at a press conference in Cairo, Egypt and they are Jabbour Douaihy, Ezzedine Choukri Fishere, Rabee Jaber, Nasser Iraq, Bashir Mufri and Habib Selmi. This year’s shortlist includes a number of different themes, ranging from exile and questions of personal identity to social and political upheaval, both historically currently.

Among them is Nasser Abelfatah Ibrahim Iraq, co-founder of the Dubai Al-Thaqafiya magazine and member of the Asia Journalist Association. His work ‘The Unemployed’ is a story of a young, educated Egyptian man from a middle-class family who, like many others is forced to look for work in Dubai due to the lack of opportunity in Cairo. In Dubai, he discovers an astonishing world filled with people of all nationalities and he experiences mixed treatment from his friends, relations and acquaintances.

The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) is an annual literary prize run with the support of the Booker Prize Foundation in London and funded by the Emirates Foundation in Abu Dhabi. The Prize was launched in Abu Dhabi in April 2007 with an intention to address the limited international availability of high quality Arab fiction.  

 Lee Miyoung-hiyoun EnjoyMiracle@theasian.asia