The Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi has announced the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, SZBA, longlists in the ‘Contribution to the Development of Nations’ and ‘Literary and Art Criticism’ categories for the Award’s 15th edition (2020-2021), which collectively received 461 submissions from various Arab countries.

This year, the ‘Development of Nations’ category received 262 submissions, representing 11 percent of all submissions across the categories. Eight titles have been selected for the longlist from six Arab countries, namely the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Tunisia.

The longlisted titles are: Diving: A Rich Source of Livelihoods by Emirati writer Ahmad Mohammed bin Thani; Transitioning to Democracy: What Can Arabs Learn from Others’ Experiences? by Egyptian writer Dr. Ali Eldin Hillal; Daughter of the Bedouin’s Chief by the Egyptian writer Miral Al-Tahawy; and The Image of Women as Viewed by Western Travellers in Central Arabia from the Early 19th Century to the Middle of the 20th Century by Saudi writer Dalal Bint Mukhlid Alharbi.

They also include: In Order to Reignite the Arab Historical Mind by Tunisian researcher Dr. Mokhtar Fejjari; Dubai’s Archaeological Site of Saruq Al-Hadid, an Image from the Civilisation of the First Millennium BC by Jordanian researcher Dr. Rafi Mhimeed Harahsheh; The Quran and the Essence of Change (The Religious Script – The Human) by Moroccan researcher Dr. Idriss Hammadi; along with Legacy of Supremacy between Folklore and Religion by Egyptian researcher Saeed El-Masry.

The 15th Sheikh Zayed Book Award’s longlist in ‘Literary and Art Criticism’ category consists of 10 titles, selected from 199 submissions, representing 8 percent of all submissions across categories, by authors from Iraq, Tunisia, Jordan and Morocco.

The longlisted titles are: The Holy Quran Calligraphy and its Development in the Islamic Era by Iraqi writer Dr. Abdulazeez Hameed Salih; A Parable Discourse, the Dialogue of Thought and Authority – a Deliberative Cognitive Approach by Moroccan writer Said Jebbar; and The Virtual Image of Baghdad in the Iraqi Jewish Imagination – A Study in the Manifestation of Historical Narratives in the Artistic Work of Films, Paintings and Music by Iraqi writer Dr. Khalidah Hatem Alwan; Religious Harmony in Literature by Jordanian writer Rashid Issa.

The titles also comprises of Scenography of the Theatrical Performance: An Accommodation for the Actor’s Body or a State of Travel? by Tunisian writer Dr. Mohamed Hedi Farhani; The Path of Modernisation in the Visual Arts. From Drawing to Painting by Tunisian writer Khelil Gouia; Icons: Research in the Semiotics of Visual Layouts by Tunisian writer Dr. Ahmed Gasmi; The Image Between Invisibility and Transfiguration According to Mohieddin Ibn-Arabi by Moroccan writer Ahmed Kaza; The Arabic Narrative Imagination: A Study of the Structures and Functions of Fantastic Literature by Moroccan writer Mostafa Ennahhal; and The Ethics of Interpretation: From the Ontology of the Script to the Ontology of Comprehension by the Moroccan writer Mohamed El Hirech.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award will announce the longlists for its other categories over the coming weeks.