Jury receives 881 applications for 'Young Author' prize, 236 for 'Children's Literature'

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award has announced the longlisted titles for the 'Young Author' and 'Children's Literature' categories for the Award's 16th edition for 2021/22.

Announcing the longlists marks the beginning of stage two for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award (SZBA), during which the jury will run a comprehensive evaluation of all the titles that made the cut.

Young Author saw the highest number of entries of any category of the Award this year, with a total of 881 applications received, recording a remarkable growth of 37 per cent from last year's tally of 646 total entries. Meanwhile, submissions for Children's Literature registered a total of 236. Entries came from across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, reaffirming the widespread appeal the Award has earned in Arab countries, and its popularity among creators in various literary fields in the Arab region and around the world.

The longlist for the Young Author category includes 14 titles from eight Arab countries: Tunisia, Iraq, Egypt, Kuwait, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Lebanon. Titles ranged from poetry to theses, critical studies, and literary works. The longlist consists of the following entries.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award is being organised by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre – part of the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi.