Three Moroccan Works Selected for the Shortlist of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2025
Three Moroccan works have made it onto the shortlist for the 19th edition of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, competing in the categories of “Children’s and Young Adult Literature,” “Translation,” and “Arts and Critical Studies.”
In the “Children’s and Young Adult Literature” category, Latifa Labsir’s work, “Taïf Sabiba”, is nominated alongside “Maïmouna and Her Wild Ideas!” by Jordanian author Chérine Sabanekh, and “The Digital Fox” by Egyptian writer Hijra Al-Saoui.
For the “Translation” category, “The Demon of Theory: Literature and Common Sense” by Antoine Compagnon, translated by Moroccan Hassan Taleb, is also among the finalists. It is joined by “One Thousand and One Nights: The Book of Love”, translated by German Claudia Ott, and “The Work of Paulus Orosius”, translated by Italian Marco Di Branco.
In the “Arts and Critical Studies” category, Moroccan author Saïd El Aouadi’s “Food and Speech: Rhetorical and Cultural Excavations in Arab Heritage” is in the running alongside “Poetry and Prophecy: Al Mutanabbi Through Poetry” by Rita Awad from Palestine and “Architectural Samarra: A Reading of the Architecture and Urbanism of the Abbasid Capital” by Khaled Al Sultani from Iraq.
Other categories of the award include works in various fields such as literature, state development, Arabic culture in other languages, manuscripts, and more. However, this year, the categories for “Young Author” and “Publishing and Cultural Technologies” have been suspended.
The award received more than 4,000 applications from 75 countries, including 20 Arab nations and 55 foreign countries.
