Khaleej Times
الإمارات

Five Arab writers win award
By a staff reporter

THE prestigious Sultan bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Award, established almost 14 years ago, announced the names of the winners of the award in its four categories at a Press conference yesterday.
The award has left its mark on the Arab cultural scene by ascertaining the significance of the rich Arab cultural inheritence and by recognising the unique achievements of creative authors and intellectuals.
"The momentousness of the biennial award run by the Sultan bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation (SAOCF), was reflected in the large number of entries to the 7th session, with a total of 603 applications in all the five categories of the award namely: poetry, short story, novel and drama category, literary and critique studies, humanitarian and futuristic studies and the cultural and scientific achievement," said Dr Sulaiman Moussa Al Jassim, member of the foundation's Board of Trustees. Dr Al Jassim announced the names of the winners in the four categories of the award at a Press conference yesterday.
He said that the poetry prize went to the Bahraini poet Qassim Haddad, whose poems represent a model of the contemporary creativeness which started to develop in the Gulf region in the last quarter of the 20th centuries.
"This poet was selected out of 109 nominees in the poetry category because his poems deal with the problems and issues of the mankind. He has published several books and is an active participant in various cultural events," Dr Al Jassim explained.
The short story, novel and drama prize was shared by Zakaria Tamer from Syria and Mohammed Al Bosati from Egypt. With a rich record of hundreds of short stories published in collections, including stories for children, Mr Zakaria earned the prize because he represents a phenomena amongst Arab short story writers and is rich in techniques of narration and content in his stories.
Writing for the last 30 years, he is one of the founders of the Syrian Writers Union, a columnist in many newspapers and he had his stories translated in different languages including English, French, Spanish, Serbian, German and Italian.
Mohammed Al Bosati, winner of many prestigious awards in short story writing, has written many books which have enriched Arab literature. The Humanitarian and Futuristic prize went to the intellectual Dr Abdul Wahab Al Maseeri from Egypt who has held many strategic positions as chairman of the Zionist Intellect Unit, a cultural adviser to the permanent delegation of the Arab League in the UN, a professor and an expert on the Jewish and Zionist history.
He has written many books in English and Arabic languages. The Literary and Critique prize was won by Mohsen Jassim Al Mousawi from Iraq who is currently a professor of literature at the American University in Sharjah. He has published several novels and several comparative studies and researches.
The winner in the fifth category, cultural and scientific achievement will be announced later, said Abdul Rahman Al Owais, member of the foundation board of trustees.
A total of $100,000 is awarded to winners in each category. The prizes shared by more than one winner will be split among them. The winners will be awarded their prizes at a ceremony to be held in January, said Abdul Elah Abdul Qader, Director of the Foundation. The foundation was established by the late UAE poet and businessman Sultan bin Ali Al Owais.
In this context, Abdul Hamid Ahmed, Secretary General of the foundation, said that the board of trustees is considering many suggestions to expand the award to cover new fields, but stressed that the further development of the award was subject to the availability of financial resources. The foundation is currently building its premises on Al Riqqah Road which will be ready before the end of next year, Mr Al Owais said.