Egyptian Writer Shortlisted for 2025 Intl Prize for Arabic Fiction
Mohamed Samir Nada is one of six shortlisted authors recognized for his novel, ‘The Prayer of Anxiety’.
Egyptian author Mohamed Samir Nada has been named as one six writers shortlisted for 18th International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF). The list was announced during a press conference at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, which also revealed that Mohamed Samir Nada is one of four authors who have been recognised for the prize for the first time.
Nada is an Egyptian native originally born in Iraq during the 1970s. He’s currently a financial director for a tourism company in Cairo, but has previously released two novels before his most recent, ‘The Prayer of Anxiety’, which follows the 1967 Naksa through the perspectives of eight characters.
IPAF’s 18th edition of judges is also chaired by Egyptian academic Mona Baker. “This year’s six shortlisted novels are notable for their focus on the humanity of their protagonists,” Baker said. “The judges’ main concern was not subject matter alone. 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.”
All six shortlisted writers hail from different Arab countries: Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Mauritania, Syria and the UAE. The winner of the USD 50,000 prize will be announced on April 24th, 2025 in Abu Dhabi.
