The 5 million Swedish Kronor (about $496,395) 2025 Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award has gone to French author Marion Brunet, who "spotlights burning social issues and draws insightful portraits of vulnerable groups and young people in revolt. She is timely in her choice of topics, timeless in her linkages to folklore and myth," the organizers noted.
Boel Westin, chair of the ALMA jury, called Brunet "a brilliant describer of young peoples' lives in an increasingly materialistic and threatening world. Present and future intertwine in her luminous stories, where the boundaries of friendship and love are constantly tested. Her work cuts to the heart of our time."
The jury commented: "Marion Brunet's books take place in a fiercely pulsating present with climate crisis and social vulnerability as recurring themes. In shimmering and crystal-clear prose, young people are portrayed in revolt against a corrupt society. The dark and violent parts of our world are explored in Brunet's timely narratives, which are made timeless by their links to myth and folklore. And counterforces are found in friendship, solidarity, and the beauty of nature."
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Winners have been announced for the Sheikh Zayed Book Awards, organized by the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre under the auspices of the Department of Culture and Tourism--Abu Dhabi and honoring Arab literature and culture. The winners will be recognized on April 28 at an award ceremony during the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair. Each receives 750,000 UAE dirhams (about $204,195), while the Cultural Personality of the Year receives 1 million UAE dirhams (about $272,264).
The Cultural Personality of the Year is Haruki Murakami, the "much-celebrated Japanese author who stands as one of the most influential and widely read contemporary novelists, including a significant following in the Arab world, where his novels are available in Arabic translation. The Award's Scientific Committee recognized Murakami's cosmopolitan literary sensibilities, in renowned novels such as Norwegian Wood, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Kafka on the Shore, and his ability to assimilate shared influences from around the world, ranging from rock and jazz music to modernist literature to the One Thousand and One Nights, into a unified literary vision."
The winners in the book categories were:
Literature: Hind, or the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Hoda Barakat (Dar al Adab, 2024)
Children's Literature: The Phantom of Sabiba by Latifa Labsir (Markaz Kitab, 2024)
Arab Culture in Other Languages: Arab Literature in Southeast Asia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries by Prof. Andrew Peacock (Brill, 2024)
Translation: Orosius (Pisa University Press, 2024), an English translation by Italian scholar Marco di Branco of Kitāb Hurūshiyūsh, the Arabic version of Paulus Orosius's Seven Books of Histories Against the Pagans
Editing of Arabic Manuscripts: News of Women by Rasheed Alkhayoun (King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, 2024), a study of a manuscript attributed to Usama ibn Munqidh (1100-1188 A.D.)
Contribution to the Development of Nations: The Right to Strive: Perspectives on Muslim Women's Rights by Prof. Dr. Mohamed Bashari (Nahdet Misr Publishing, 2024)
Literary and Art Criticism: Food and Language: Cultural Excavations in Arabic Heritage by Dr. Said Laouadi (Afrique Orient, 2023).
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Finalists have been selected for the 37th annual IBPA Book Awards (formerly known as the IBPA Ben Franklin Awards), sponsored by the Independent Book Publishers Association and honoring "the best independently published books of 2024." Gold winners will be revealed on May 16. See the finalists in the more than 50 categories here.