Bread on Uncle Milad's Table by Mohamed Alnaas (Rashm) has won the 2022 International Prize for Arabic Fiction. Alnaas receives $50,000, and funding will be provided for an English translation of the debut novel.
Chair of judges Shukri Mabkhout said, "The winning novel is written in the form of confessions of personal experience. Its plethora of detail is deftly unified by a gripping narrative. This offers a deep and meticulous critique of prevailing concepts of masculinity and femininity and the division of work between men and women, and the effect of these on both a psychological and social level. It falls into the category of novels which question cultural norms about gender. However, it is embedded in its local Arab context and steers away from any ideological treatment of the issues, as such a treatment would be contrary to the way in which fiction can present multiple points of view."
At 31, Alnaas is the youngest writer to win the International Prize for Arabic Fiction and the first Libyan. His short story collection, Blue Blood, was published in 2020. Bread on Uncle Milad's Table is his first novel, which he wrote in just six months during lockdown and while Tripoli was under bombardment. He says writing the book was his "refuge from insanity" amid Covid and war.