الجميع يحلم بالفوز.. «البوابة نيوز» تتحدث مع كُتاب روايات القائمة الطويلة لجائزة طه حسين

“Actual publication is the most important condition for the Taha Hussein Prize for Published Novel 2024.” This is what the novelist Ahmed Qarni, head of the Awards and Competitions Committee of the Story Club, said at the beginning of his interview with “Al-Bawaba News.”

“Since the beginning of last May, the Taha Hussein Award for the published novel was announced. This award is held by the Story Club with the support of the Cultural Development Fund. We received a huge number of novels and immediately began examining the availability of the announced conditions in the submitted novels, including the time period, deposit number, and publishing house, meaning verifying actual publication, which is the most important condition for the award. After excluding the novels that did not meet the conditions, four examination committees were formed from prominent and important names, whether critics or narrative writers, and the examination phase began. Immediately after the reports of the arbitration committees were received, the club’s Competitions and Awards Committee prepared the long list to announce it,” Qarni added.

He continued: “The long list included the names of writers from most of Egypt’s governorates, and the novels that won the long list varied in their topics. We will find completely fantasy novels and novels based on magical realism or imagination. Some novels dealt with the Palestinian issue and its history, and there are novels that dealt with the biography of the human hero through a social plot and a wonderful narration.” There are novels that focused on the historical dimension and dealt with part of Egypt’s history through the lives of the novel’s heroes… and monitored the social, political and cultural transformations skillfully. There are novels that dealt with women’s issues within a good narrative framework, a dramatic plot, and an elaborate narrative construction, away from the loud voice. In general, the jury testimonies were expressive of The quality of the novel works presented, most of which are good, and their authors are distinguished writers, and the evaluation criteria were based on the artistic construction of the novel, the dramatic plot, the quality of the narration, the method of handling, and of course the linguistic integrity before all of this. There are good novels, but unfortunately they received low ratings, and it became clear from reviewing the arbitrators’ reports that the weak rating is due to errors. There is a lot of repetitive linguistic language, and I think that there is a responsibility on both the creator and the publishing house. Publishing houses must adopt linguistic references and assign to him the task of linguistic review of the work before publication. This is a very important matter, as the writer’s effort may be wasted due to multiple errors. I do not say one, two, or three errors. It is possible that there is no work without errors, but there are works in which the size of linguistic errors is so large that it affects the evaluation in the end.”

Novelist Ahmed Qarni: The end of July is the time for the awards ceremony

Novelist Ahmed Qarni, head of the Competitions and Awards Committee at the Story Club, revealed the date for announcing the winners of the Taha Hussein Published Novel Competition 2024, after publishing the long list of novels eligible to win.

“Qarni” said in special statements to “Al-Bawaba News”: The end of July will be the date of the awards ceremony, which will be attended by a number of public figures, writers and novelists, and it will be a celebration befitting the venerable story club.

Taha Hussein Awards Ceremony for Published Novels

He added: “As we promised, we will offer a number of incentive prizes to those who were not lucky enough to win. The truth is that the club has recently witnessed great activity at all levels, including workshop seminars, critical seminars, and honoring symbols. Behind this activity is a board of directors that includes prominent names and important writers, headed by the writer Mohamed.” Mr. Eid, Chairman of the Club’s Board of Directors.. The club, which was founded by Youssef Al-Sebaei and is headed by big prominent names, is now renewing and developing its work mechanisms. Behind this effort are the writer Mohamed Nassef, the club’s general secretary, and prominent names in the office, including the writer Hassan Al-Goukh, Dr. Al-Sayed Najm, and other members Board of Directors: Abdo Al-Zaraa, Dr. Ahmed Al-Basousi, and writer Mona Maher.

Activate the narrative writing movement

He continued: “I hope that the Taha Hussein Award will be an award that has contributed to activating the narrative writing movement and encouraging writers, especially since it bears a great name in the world of culture, literature and thought, which is Taha Hussein, the dean of Arabic literature and a pioneer of thought and writing, and one of the most important contributors to enlightening the Arab mind. He has added a lot to the Arabic library with his important works, so naming the award after Taha Hussein was important. Who among writers does not dream of receiving an award bearing the name of this great writer? I am happy with the confidence of writers and authors in the story club, which was reflected in the great turnout to apply for the award despite the short period available for applications, which we promise will be longer next year so that everyone can apply for the Taha Hussein Award.”

Manuscript narrative writing competition

The head of the Competitions and Awards Committee pointed out that the Story Club also offers an important competition in handwritten narrative writings and the donation of narrative works that have not yet been published in the fields of novels, short stories and children’s literature. The deadline for submitting applications is the end of this month. It is an important award that has presented, over the course of its decades, great names to the cultural movement in Egypt and has continued to contribute for many years to activating the Egyptian cultural movement.

Amr Donqol: Farag Foda’s intellectual journey is my inspiration for launching my novel “Villa Al-Qadi”, which is eligible for the Taha Hussein Award

Writer Amr Donqul, who is longlisted for the Taha Hussein Prize for Published Novel, revealed the events and characters inspiring his novel “The Judge’s Villa,” expressing his overwhelming happiness at being qualified.

“Dungul” said in exclusive statements to “Al Bawaba News” that he was greatly influenced by the global and local artistic and political events that occurred in Egypt and the world, as he was 12 years old at the time and began the stage of realization.

Farag Foda’s journey is a source of inspiration

The writer added that the novel “The Judge’s Villa” takes place during the years (1991, 1992), when there was the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the Islamists’ control over Iran, and at the local level the conflict began between the extremist movement and the middle liberal thought in Egypt, while on the other hand this period witnessed Many incidents, including the assassination of the thinker Faraj Foda, which was his starting point for writing the novel, as there is a great similarity between the character of the hero in his qualified novel, and the character of Faraj Foda.

He continued: “For many reasons, I cannot write the biography of the thinker Farag Foda without the approval of his family, so my entire novel is inspired by imagination, as his intellectual journey until his assassination by extremists was a source of inspiration for me.”

He added: “Many events in the novel, such as the recovery of the Salem Express ferry at the end of 1991, in addition to artistic events such as the death of Professor Muhammad Abdel-Wahab and Ihsan Abdel-Quddous, are events that are greatly intertwined in the novel.”

“The Judge’s Villa” is the most mature novel

“Dunkul” confirmed that he has been away from the field of literature for 6 years, in which he has been writing two novels, “The Forty Club” and “The Judge’s Villa,” which he sees as more mature. He explained that the culture of awards is not among his priorities, and that the novelist Hisham Eid was the one who nominated him to participate. After major writers praised his novel.

Taha Hussein Award for Published Novel 2024

The writer pointed out that the moral return makes a big difference to the writer, given the lack of financial return for literary works in this era, and such appreciation is required for continued creativity.

Amr Donqol is an Egyptian writer and novelist born in Sohag Governorate. He has published two novels: “The Forty Club” in 2022, and “The Judge’s Villa” in 2023.

Sherine Shehata: I am happy that my novel qualified for the Taha Hussein Award

Young writer Sherine Shehata expressed her happiness at qualifying for the long list for the Taha Hussein Award for Published Novel 2024 at the Story Club, for her novel “Crime of Life,” stressing that she hopes to win this prestigious award.

In exclusive statements to Al-Bawaba News, Shehata thanked the prestigious story club for giving her the opportunity for the largest number of audiences to get to know her pen and read to her.

Human suffering in the novel “Crime of Life”

Regarding her qualified novel, “A Life Crime,” she said: “The novel deals with human suffering in general, regardless of his age and social classes, and his suffering with himself and his psychological and material needs. This is where the name “Life Crime” was chosen because it carries a question within it, which is: Are we the reason for this? All these crimes? Or is it life that caused all these crimes?

She added: “The novel takes place inside a building of dignitaries inhabited by a group of wealthy people. The novel reveals their many problems despite their immense wealth. There are many characters that the novel monitors: the doorman and his conflicting sons, Mrs. Magda, the widow whose child’s death was a great mystery, Wahid, the university student who has been guilty of his mother’s death on the day of his birth his whole life, and the character of Mrs. Samiha, and others.”

Novelist Amina Al-Zaghbi: “The Inheritance of Fear” aims to establish the values ​​of cooperation and love

Novelist and short story writer Amina Al-Zaghbi revealed the details of her novel “The Inheritance of Fear,” which is eligible to win the Taha Hussein Prize for Published Novel 2024, and which the Story Club announced as part of the longlist a few days ago.

Al-Zaghbi said in special statements to Al-Bawaba News that she participated in the award and did not expect to win, but she hopes that her novel will win an award bearing a great name like “Taha Hussein.”

She added that the participating novel took more than two years to write, as it went through the stage of character manuscripts and carefully drawn the characters, taking into account the actions and psychological factors that the character goes through.

She stressed that the novel “The Inheritance of Fear” aims to establish the values ​​of cooperation and love, as this generation lacks these values, as openness to the world and blind imitation of the West has caused them to lose their identity.

Al-Zoghbi explained that in her writings, she generally tends toward realistic writings mixed with fantasy, and she does not prefer writing based on reality because fantasy gives the work a distinctive flavor.

The novelist and storyteller pointed out that the novel “Inheritance of Fear” specifically deals with consolidating the values ​​of love of one’s neighbor for one’s neighbor, as we lack such relationships in upscale neighborhoods like the Sporting neighborhood, where we hear screaming coming from an apartment, and no one cares without anyone trying to help him. Because the neighbor was closer to the person than the family, the events of the novel revolve around a young child whose parents are involved in a traffic accident, loses them, and lives with his grandfather and grandmother for some reason, with the grandfather who is of non-Egyptian origin but has become a true Egyptian through his behavior and deeds.

She added: “This grandfather instilled within the boy the beautiful values ​​of love for one’s neighbor, but within limits, without interfering in the affairs of others. He was surrounded by the residents of the building with 24 families embracing this boy. Each family had a chapter in the novel, and each family dealt with Joseph as if he were one of them.”

She continued: “The novel is extremely social, and the main goal is to consolidate the values ​​of cooperation and love of one’s neighbor, and there is no such thing as fear of death because there is a character in the novel who said that he is afraid of getting married, having children, and leaving his father alone, experiencing the same loneliness and suffering from it.”

She added: “Instilling the values ​​of cooperation, treatment with kindness and love, the relationship with the neighbor, and the national rooting of national belonging, within the events of my novel. There are events intertwined in the novel that we went through since the June 30 revolution until President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi assumed the presidency, and the feelings and chants that were passing through Port Said Street and the participation of Youssef (one of the heroes) The novel) and his neighbor, Dr. Ahmed, the success of President Sisi, and the song Hussein Al Jasmi, A People Club on Al-Saidi.”