The Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize is an annual award of £3,000, established by Banipal Magazine and the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature, for published translations from Arabic of full-length works of imaginative and creative writing of literary merit and general interest. The prize is sponsored by Omar Saif Ghobash and the Ghobash family in memory of his father, a passionate bibliophile, and is administered by the Society of Authors.
The 2022 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize is now open for submissions.
The 2021 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize
Winner: Sarah Enany for a translation of The Girl with Braided Hair
by Rasha Adly (Hoopoe an Imprint of AUC Press).
You can watch and listen to a reading of The Girl With Braided Hair given by Sarah Enany here.
With thanks to the judges: Roger Allen, Rosemarie Hudson, Ronak Husni, Caroline McCormick
If you are interested in any of the books here please visit: Blackwells and Bookshop
The 2022 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize is now open for submissions.
- The deadline for submissions is 31 March 2022.
- Entries must be translations from Arabic into English.
- Entries must have been published between April 2021 and March 2022.
- The deadline for both entries and publication for the 2022 Prize is 31 March 2022.
- Full Terms and Conditions will be listed at the start of the entry form.
- Presented at a ceremony in 2023.
For any queries relating to the prize please contact prizes@societyofauthors.org
2020 (presented 2021)
- Winner: Kay Heikkenen for a translation of Velvet by Huzama Habayeb (Hoopoe an Imprint of AUC Press)
- Shortlisted: Jonathan Wright for a translation of The Egyptian Assassin by Ezzedine C. Fishere (Hoopoe an Imprint of AUC Press)
- Sophia Vasalou for a translation of The Old Woman and the River by Ismail Fahd Ismail (Interlink Books)
- Alexander E. Elinson for a translation of A Shimmering Red Fish Swims with Me by Youssef Fadel (Hoopoe an Imprint of AUC Press)
- Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp and Sue Copeland for a translation of Trees for the Absentees by Ahlam Bsharat (Neem Tree Press)
2019 (presented 2020)
- Winner: Leri Price for a translation of Death is Hard Work by Khaled Khalifa (Faber & Faber)
- Shortlisted: Marilyn Booth for a translation of Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi (Sandstone Press)
- Humphrey Davies for a translation of My Name is Adam: Children of the Ghetto Volume 1 by Elias Khoury (MacLehose)
- Jonathan Wright for a translation of Jokes for the Gunman by Mazen Maarouf (Granta Books)
2018 (presented in 2019)
- Winner: Luke Leafgren for a translation of The President’s Gardens by Muhsin Al-Ramli (MacLehose Press/Quercus)
- Shortlisted: Benjamin Koerber for a translation of Using Life by Ahmed Naji and illustrated by Ayman Al Zarkany (CMES Publications UT Austin)
- Khaled Mattawa for a translation of Concerto al-Quds by Adonis (Yale University Press)
- Jonathan Wright for a translation of Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi (Oneworld)
2017 (presented 2018)
- Winner: Robin Moger for a translation of The Book of Safety by Yasser Abdel Hafez (Hoopoe Fiction, AUC)
- Shortlisted: Katherine Halls and Adam Talib for a translation of The Dove’s Necklace by Raja Alem (Duckworth)
- Leri Price for a translation of No Knives in the Kitchens of This City by Khaled Khalifa (Hoopoe Fiction, AUC)
- Anna Ziajka Stanton for a translation of Limbo Beirut by Hilal Chouman (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas Press)
2016 (presented 2017)
- Winner: Jonathan Wright for a translation of The Bamboo Stalk by Saud Alsanousi (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing)
2015 (presented 2016)
- Winner: Paul Starkey for a translation of The Book of the Sultan’s Seal by Youssef Rakha (Interlink)
- Commended: Jonathan Wright for a translation of Land of No Rain by Amjad Nasser (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation)
2014
- Winner: Sinan Antoon for a translation of his own novel The Corpse Washer (Yale University Press)
- Commended: Paula Haydar for a translation of June Rain by Jabbour Douaihy (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation)
2013
- Joint winners: Willian Maynard Hutchins for a translation of A Land Without Jasmine by Wajdi al-Ahdal (Garnet) and Jonathan Wright for a translation of Azazeel by Zoussef Ziedan (Atlantic).
2012
- Winner: Roger Allen for a translation of A Muslim Suicide by Bensalem Himmich (Syracuse University Press)
- Commended: Humphrey Davis for a translation of I Was Born There, I Was Born Here by Mourid Barghouti (Bloomsbury)
2011
- Winner: Khaled Mattawa for a translation of Selected Poems by Adonis (Yale University Press)
- Runner-up: Barbara Romaine for a translation of Spectres by Radwa Ashour (Arabia Books)
- Commended: Maia Tabet for a translation of White Masks by Elias Khoury (Archipelago Books)
2010
- Winner: Humphrey Davies for a translation of Yalo by Elias Khoury (MacLehose Press)
- Joint runners-up: Kareem James Abu-Zeid for a translation of Cities Without Palms by Tarek Eltayeb (Arabia Books) and Humphrey Davies for a transaltion of Sunset Oasis by Bahaa Taher (Sceptre).
2009
- Winner: Samah Selim for a translation of The Collar and the Bracelet by Yahya Taher Abdulla (American University in Cairo Press)
- Joint runners-up: Elliott Colla for a transaltion of Gold Dust by Ibrahim al-Koni (Arabia Books/Haus Publishing) and Michelle Hartman for a translation of Wild Mulberries by Iman Humaydan Younes (Interlink Books).
2008
- Winner: Fady Joudah for a translation of The Butterfly’s Burden by Mahmoud Darwish (Bloodaxe Books)
- Runner up: Ghassan Nasr for a translation of The Journals of Sarab Affan by Jabra Ibran Jabra (Syracuse University Press)
- Commended: for a translation of The Man from Bashmour by Salwa Bakr (American University in Cairo Press)
2007
- Winner: Farouk Abdel Wahab for a transaltion ofThe Lodging House by Khairy Shalaby (American University in Cairo Press)
- Runner up: Marilyn Booth for a translation of Thieves in Ritirement by Hamdi Abu Golayyel (Syracuse University Press)
- Commended: Peter Theroux for a transaltion offor Saraya, the Ogre’s Daughter by Emile Habiby (Ibis)
2006
- Winner: Humphrey Davies for a transaltion ofGate of the Sun by Elias Khoury (Harvill Secker)
- Runner up: Hala Halim for a translation of Clamor of the Lake by Mohamed El-Bisatie (American University in Cairo Press)
