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| Source: Sheikh Zayed Book Award website. |
One English title has been nominated under Arab Culture in Other Languages, The Medieval Islamic Republic of Letter, Arabic Knowledge Construction by Iraqi writer Muhsin J Al-Musawi, published by University of Notre Dame Press, 2015. The book is a deeply learned work of literary history. It presents a a compelling argument against the commonly-held opinion that Arabic literature, since the glorious peak of the Abbasids, has somehow failed to be modern, and instead became locked in conventions that were stultifying and rarefied, created only for a small circle of initiates who were themselves censored and censuring. Musawi reviews this misconception and demonstrates, through his readings how this generally accepted account is mistaken.
Two French works were also shortlisted. Angles et Grandeur by Egyptian author Roshdi Rashed, published by the Walter De Gruyter, Berlin 2015 discusses the concept of the angle and its relation to Archimedean and non-Archimedean theories of measurement, tracing the history of discussions from Euclid to Kamal al-Din al-Farisi, after whom the discussion was not resumed until Newton and Euler. The volume presents first editions of over twenty texts, either in Arabic or Greek of the greatest mathematicians and philosophers of the time. The texts are translated into French and supplemented with extensive commentary.
Les Èlites Bagdadiennes au Temps des Seldjoukides by researcher Vanessa Van Renterghem from France, is published by Presses de l’Ifpo, 2015. The study examines the history of Baghdad in social terms, during a period rarely addressed by scholars; under the Seljuks. The study features two-volumes; the first being a study of the social theory and the second featuring appendices and pictorial analysis.
The nominated publishing houses for the Publishing and Technology award are Asala Publishing, from Lebanon, Obeikan Publishing from Saudi, Dar Al-Saqi, from Lebanon and Dar Toubqal from Morocco.
The SZBA will announce the winners in the next couple of weeks followed by the announcement of Cultural Personality of the Year.
Interested?
Read the Suroor Asia blog post about the SZBA short list for Literary and Arts Studies