SOAS hosts series of Arabic literature online events in collaboration with Sheikh Zayed Book Award

25 April 2022

2022 is a record-breaking year for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award. The annual prize received more than 3000 submissions from 55 countries this year, in a testament to its increasing importance and influence in the global network of Arabic literature and culture.

Known as the Arab World’s Nobel Prize, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award showcases outstanding contributions to Arabic literature, the humanities, science, and culture. The Award's nine prize categories, ranging from Children's Literature to Literary and Art Criticism, and its Translation Grant, moreover, showcase the dynamic fields of translation from and into Arabic, and of European and North American Arabic studies.

In its ambition to connect with wider academic audiences, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award is organising a series of four events between April and June in collaboration with SOAS, University of London, famous for its commitment to and its reach in the global south.

Wen-chin Ouyang, Professor of Arabic and Comparative Literature, with her connections in North America, Europe and East Asia, will host and moderate the events, bringing to this series an additional multilingual and cross-regional flare. The interlocutors and guests include shortlisted and invited authors, translators, cultural thought leaders and scholars from around the world. All events will be bilingual (Arabic/English) and online.

The events include:

• Translation and Cultural Exchange, Thursday 28th April
• Arab Literature and Culture in the West and Beyond, Thursday 12 May
• Children’s Literature as World Literature, Tuesday 31 May
• Global Arabic Humanities, Tuesday 14 June

For further information, contact:

sp65@soas.ac.uk