News

Samah Selim is the 2009 winner of the Saif Ghobash – Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation for her translation of The Collar and the Bracelet by the late Yahya Taher Abdullah.

The runners-up are Michelle Hartman for her translation of Iman Humaydan Younes’s novel Wild Mulberries and Elliott Colla for his translation of Ibrahim al-Koni’s Gold Dust.

This year’s judges were author Aamer Hussein and literary critic and novelist Francine Stock and literary translator and academic Marilyn Booth. Literary translator and academic Roger Allen was chair of judges for the Banipal Trust.

The Award was made at an evening of events at the King's Place, King's Cross, NW1 on 11 January 2010. For more details click here

The Winner
Samah Selim for her translation of The Collar and the Bracelet, published by the American University in Cairo Press.

On hearing the news, Samah Selim said: “The Collar and the Bracelet was just such a challenge for me – a labour of love in fact. It is a unique literary text with a language all its own, and I had always dreamed of translating it. I would like to thank Neil Hewison and the AUC Press for making this possible, and the judges of this year’s Banipal Prize for their recognition. My only regret is that the author, Yahya Taher Abdullah, is not alive today to personally share in this honour with me.”


For full information about The Collar and the Bracelet, the judges' comments, and links to one-line purchasing, click here


Runner-up
Michelle Hartman for her translation of Wild Mulberries, published by Interlink Books, USA


For more information about Wild Mulberries, the judges' comments, and links to one-line purchasing, click here

"An English text that manages to mirror with both accuracy and readability the narrative traits of the Arabic original"

Runner-up
Elliott Colla for his translation of Gold Dust, published by Arabia Books in the UK and by AUC Press in North America

For more information about Gold Dust, the judges' comments, and links to one-line purchasing, click here

"Ibrahim al-Koni, a Libyan novelist of Tuareg origins, is a thoroughly original voice in world fiction"

To contact the prize and give your views on the results, email:  info@banipaltrust.org.uk