Sheikh Zayed Book Award names Amin Maalouf Cultural Personality of the Year 2016

Source: Sheikh Zayed Book Award. Amin Maalouf, French novelist.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award’s board of trustees and scientific committee have named Lebanese-born French novelist Amin Maalouf as their winner for this year’s Cultural Personality of the Year Award in recognition of his achievements as a novelist. 

The Award recognises Maalouf’s ability to recreate unique experiences and adventures in an extraordinary literary style that amalgamates distinctly Arabic narrative and modernist Western styles in creative works and intellectual research. Maalouf’s treatment of themes that touch upon modern-day fears and concerns, in intricate poetic and narrative forms, secured his indisputable position within the literary world, and informed the decision by the Sheikh Zayed Book Award to name him Cultural Personality of the Year, according to a statement from the award organisers.

Maalouf holds a degree in economics and sociology from Beirut University. He worked in the Beirut-based daily Al-Nahar, reporting on international and political affairs. He had firsthand experience of the Lebanese civil war, and then moved to Paris with his wife and children, where he worked for the weekly newspaper Al-Nahar Al-Arabi and at the French Jeune Afrique.
Maalouf has conveyed in French some key moments in the history of Arab and other Eastern peoples to the world, shedding light on distinguished personalities dedicated to promoting harmony and dialogue between the East and the West. His works are characterised by a consistent array of themes ranging from his civil war experience, constant search for identity, cultural tolerance, and world citizenship. The themes are embodied in his characters, most of whom speak several languages, master more than one talent, and enjoy multiple citizenships. Several characters in his novels are victims of circumstances (migration, war, and unremitting suffering); nevertheless, they are able to reinvent their own destinies, relying on their talent and belief in their high human values.

His first book in French, The Crusades through Arab Eyes (1983), revealed his fundamental interests: history on one hand, and narrative writing on the other. Back then, the Crusades were a central theme in French historical studies and literary texts based on history, but they were rarely presented from an Arab perspective. Maalouf‘s book presented the Crusades as experienced by the Arab community in its various segments and affiliations. He followed a strictly objective approach founded on a humanism that pervades all his work. The Crusades were not merely wars of religion as they are sometimes taken to be; they were cultural clashes whose impact can still be witnessed today.

Maalouf has continued to make use of history in his fiction and to employ his narrative skill in his historical studies. He has published a number of novels based on history, including Leon Africanus (1986), Samarkand (1988), The Gardens of Light (1991), and The Rock of Tanios (1993). 

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The award ceremony will take place on May 1, coinciding with the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. Maalouf will receive a prize of AED1,000,000, a gold medal bearing the Sheikh Zayed Book Award logo, as well as a certificate of merit.

Unique reference on Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour available online and in UK

Despite the 'out of print or limited availability' announcement on Amazon, a book on Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour is still in print and available, says its author Robert Hales.

Hales notes that Amazon lists but does not carry the book, Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour: A Lifetime’s Passion. "(The book) has been selling very well, mainly to libraries, collectors, museums and auction houses throughout the world. Copies can be ordered from my website: www.roberthales.co.uk. It is also stocked in several bookshops including The Wallace Collection bookshop in London, John Sandoe Books (near Sloane Square, London), and Ken Trotman Arms and Armour Books*," he said.

The seeds of Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour: A Lifetime’s Passion were sown when Hales bought his first antique weapon in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1966. At the age of 21, he travelled overland to Nepal through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan through India. Along the way, he acquired antiques from Tibetan refugees.  By the time he returned to London, travelling south through Baluchistan, Southern Iran and on to the Middle East, Jerusalem and Petra in Jordan, he had decided to give up a fledgling career as a microbiologist, turning to antique arms and armour instead.

Source: Robert Hales. 
1. Front cover; detail of a Mughal ivory horse-head dagger hilt, India, 17th century 
2. Mughal kard with a pale green jade hilt carved in the form of a ram’s head, India, 17th century 
3. Indian jambiya in the Arabian style; the gold hilt and sheath are decorated with rubies, emeralds and diamonds, India, 19th century. Formerly in the collection of the Nizam of Hyderabad 
4. Indian sword shamshir with Iranian watered steel blade; the silver-gilt hilt decorated with enamel and set with clusters of diamonds and emeralds; the scabbard fitted with a chape and suspension rings decorated en suite with the hilt. North India, Rajasthan, 18th-19th century 
5. Presentation sword given to Admiral FitzRoy in 1847 by Lord Hardinge, Governor-General of India; the Indian iron shamshir hilt is decorated with gold koftgari; the blade and scabbard was made by Henry Wilkinson and inscribed Robert FitzRoy from Lord Hardinge. On the reverse is a gold-damascened cartouche with the Persian inscription The blade of this sword will shine if it is used for the right cause. With the wrong cause, it will rust and the rust will become its scabbard. Dated AH 1264 and also 1847 AD 
 6. Turkish gem-set presentation kilij; the curved watered ‘T’ section blade deeply chiselled with split palmettes and arabesques; the 17th-century Indian jade hilt inlaid with jade leaves and flowers and further embellished in the 19th century with clusters of rubies, emeralds and diamonds, by Turkish craftsmen. Reputedly presented to Tsar Nicholas II by the Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II 
 7. An Ottoman kilij; the silver-gilt crosspiece and scabbard mounts are pierced, chased and engraved with trophies of arms; an early 20th-century handwritten label states Presentation Sword, presented to Captain William H. Bowen R.N. by H.M. King of Algiers for services rendered. Late 18th century Research indicates that the sword was actually presented to James Bowen by the Bey of Algiers 
 8. East European shamshir; the slightly curved watered blade is gold-inlaid with Orthodox Catholic symbols including a pair of candlesticks with lit candles. Second half of the 17th century

Hales became a dealer for in the field with a gallery in London for 27 years and a recognised authority on the subject. He also continued to travel widely, from Morocco to Egypt and later to the Far East where he began a love affair with Indonesia and for the kris, an asymmetrical dagger with a wavy blade. He kept a photographic record of many of the weapons that passed through his hands, resulting in a rich and extensive archive.  

Islamic and Oriental Arms and Armour is the first book to document the range and breadth of this field. Such a reference work has not been published since George Cameron Stone’s A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms and Armor: in All Countries and in All Times in 1934. 

As his life-long friend and fellow enthusiast for antique weapons Jonathan Barrett says in the foreword, “Bob was fortunate to have been active during a period of relatively plentiful supply; a time that we are unlikely to see again”. 

At the time of its launch in 2013 Donald LaRocca, Curator, Department of Arms and Armor at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York said: “Every collector, dealer, and curator will want to have this book and will consult it again and again.”  

Thom Richardson, Royal Armouries’ Keeper of Armour and Oriental Collections, Leeds, added: “As a source of images of the finest Asian weapons, this book is unrivalled and will be an indispensable resource for anyone interested in the subject in the future”.

The book is divided into four sections: daggers; swords; firearms; and armour, plus a glossary of terms. Many of the weapons featured were never used in anger but were primarily worn to show the wealth and status of the owner.  

Since the publication of the book, Hales has been managing the disposal of a collection of Oriental arms and armour in the estate of a deceased friend. He will be giving an illustrated lecture in aid of the Art Fund in Guernsey on 15 October, he added.

*Ken Trotman is listed as a bookshop in Cambridgeshire, UK.

Source: Amazon website.

New book on private and royal life in the Ottoman Empire published

Blue Dome Press, a publisher of Islamic tradition and spirituality, Islamic history and arts books, has added a book about the Ottoman Empire to its portfolio. 

Source: Blue Dome Press.

The Ottoman Empire was once the biggest empire on earth, reigning over much of Eastern Europe and the Middle East from 1299 to 1923. For much of this period, Topkapi Palace, an architectural jewel on Istanbul’s historic peninsula, was the heart of the Empire. It was where the Sultan lived with his family and made important political decisions.

The new book, Private and Royal Life in the Ottoman Palace* by Ottoman historian and former Director of the Topkapi Palace Museum Ilber Ortayli, deepens our understanding of what life was like during one of the most remarkable empires in human history.

Exploring politics, architecture, and culture, Ortayli gives an unprecedented look at what life was like inside the palace. He explores the parts of the palace where decisions that changed an empire were made, and then looks at how the Ottoman court actually lived, dispelling many misconceptions in the process.

Istanbul-based Ortayli has written numerous books and articles on Ottoman history and is a frequent speaker on history and culture during the Ottoman era. 

*ISBN: 978-1-935295-45-7, paperback, US$11.95, 159 pages, published by Blue Dome Press. Email customercare@nbnbooks.com for more information.