Yesterday in Abu Dhabi, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award (SZBA) announced the three-book shortlist in their “literature” and “literary & art criticism” categories:

Organizers selected three titles — from a longlist of 13 — for the literature longlist.

Among the shortlisted three books are Saudi novelist Amal al-Faran’s acclaimed Diverse of the Empty Quarter and multi-award-winning Moroccan novelist (and former culture minister) Bensalem Himmich’s memoir The Self: Between Existence and Creation.

1. Terter (Sequin Embroidery) by Iraqi novelist Nizar Abdelsattar, published by Nofal- Hachette Antoine, 2018.
2. Ghawaso Al Ahqaf (Divers of the Empty Quarter) by Saudi novelist Amal Al Faran, published by Jadawel Publishing, Translation & Distribution, 2016.
3. Al Zaat: Bayn Al Wujood Wal Eijad (The Self: Between Existence and Creation) by Moroccan novelist Bensalem Himmich, published by Book Cultural Centre for Publishing & Distribution, 2018.   

Himmich has several novels in English translation…