Emirati writer Nadia Najar’s The Touch of Light has made the shortlist for this year's International Prize for Arabic Fiction.
The novel delves into various aspects of the region’s past, including the history of Dubai before the discovery of oil. It features a blind narrator who uses special technology to examine the content of photographs.
Najar is an acclaimed writer, having won several local prizes, including the Sharjah Book Fair Award for Best Emirati Book, the Emirates Novel Award and Al Owais Award. Her previous works include The Exile of Memory (2014), Cities of Passion (2015) and The D Trilogy (2017). She also published a short story collection in 2022 titled Puzzle Game.
Najar is in the running for the Ipaf award alongside authors from Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and, for the first time, Mauritania. The shortlisted works were revealed on Wednesday during a press conference at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt. The winner of the $50,000 prize will be announced on April 24 in Abu Dhabi.
“This year’s six shortlisted novels are notable for their focus on the humanity of their protagonists,” Mona Baker, chair of the 2025 judges, says.
In Danshmand, Mauritanian novelist Ahmed Fal Al Din reimagines the life of Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali. The novel portrays the famous 12th-century imam and scholar in an unprecedented relatable light, showing him tackling anxieties and conspiracies in the face of the looming threat of Frankish Crusaders.
With The Valley of the Butterflies, Iraqi writer Azher Jirjees examines developments in Baghdad over the past two decades with a novel that straddles the divide between fantasy and reality, tragedy and comedy.
The Andalusian Messiah by Syrian-Palestinian author Taissier Khalaf highlights one of the most brutal moments in Andalusian history, when Muslims were forcibly converted and interrogated by the Inquisition.
The Prayer of Anxiety by Egyptian writer Mohamed Samir Nada, meanwhile, is set in 1977 in an isolated Egyptian village where residents believe they are surrounded by a minefield. The residents don’t know much about the wider world except that a war with Israel has been raging for a decade and that their village may be the first line of defence keeping the enemy from entering Egypt.
Finally, The Women’s Charter by Lebanese writer Haneen Al-Sayegh explores the rural life in her Druze village in Mount Lebanon. It tells the story of a woman who, while trying to overcome the religious beliefs of her family, agrees to marry a wealthy Druze man so that she will be able to study at the American University in Beirut.
While the subject matter played a part in the judges’ selections, it was not the only concern, Baker says. “The novel is first and foremost an artistic construction, and narrative representation and its forms are the novelist’s means of creating worlds that can only be achieved through imagination.”
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
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Navdeep Suri, India's Ambassador to the UAE
There has been a longstanding need from the Indian community to have a religious premises where they can practise their beliefs. Currently there is a very, very small temple in Bur Dubai and the community has outgrown this. So this will be a major temple and open to all denominations and a place should reflect India’s diversity.
It fits so well into the UAE’s own commitment to tolerance and pluralism and coming in the year of tolerance gives it that extra dimension.
What we will see on April 20 is the foundation ceremony and we expect a pretty broad cross section of the Indian community to be present, both from the UAE and abroad. The Hindu group that is building the temple will have their holiest leader attending – and we expect very senior representation from the leadership of the UAE.
When the designs were taken to the leadership, there were two clear options. There was a New Jersey model with a rectangular structure with the temple recessed inside so it was not too visible from the outside and another was the Neasden temple in London with the spires in its classical shape. And they said: look we said we wanted a temple so it should look like a temple. So this should be a classical style temple in all its glory.
It is beautifully located - 30 minutes outside of Abu Dhabi and barely 45 minutes to Dubai so it serves the needs of both communities.
This is going to be the big temple where I expect people to come from across the country at major festivals and occasions.
It is hugely important – it will take a couple of years to complete given the scale. It is going to be remarkable and will contribute something not just to the landscape in terms of visual architecture but also to the ethos. Here will be a real representation of UAE’s pluralism.
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Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019
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Based: Amman, Jordan
Sector: Education Technology
Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed
Stage: early-stage startup
Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.
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Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
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Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
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Friday
Saint-Etienne v Montpellier (10.45pm)
Saturday
Monaco v Caen (7pm)
Amiens v Bordeaux (10pm)
Angers v Toulouse (10pm)
Metz v Dijon (10pm)
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