Two Syrian writers top winners list at the Mandela International Prize for Literature

Contemporary Syrian creativity has achieved  amazing results in the Mandela International Prize for Literature – 2021 in the short story, poetry, and novel.

 

The Syrian writer Mervat Ahmed Ali won first place in the “Mandela” international competition for literature, the first session of 2021 in the category of best short story collection for her “The Summit” collection, while the Syrian poet Ali Juma’a Al-Kaoud came in the second place in the category of best poetry collection for his poetry collection entitled “Excluded by Her Love”.

 

Concerning this international competition and her win, the writer said: “My winning of the Mandela International Prize for Literature is importance for me as a writer. This award is the second that I have  received worldwide , as I have won a previous international award, which is the “Cesar Egido Serrano Award” in Spain. However, the most important feature of this award is that it is associated with a great pioneer of the political struggle against racial discrimination, who had no equal in steadfastness and adherence to the lofty humanitarian principles.

 

She added, “ The Mandela Prize for Literature is the seventeenth prize that I won in recognition of my literary achievements over a quarter of a century. I deservedly won first place in the (Mandela) Prize for Literature, for my collection of short stories (The Summit), which, like all the winning works, will be issued in Arabic, English, and French, and this will make Syrian literature accessible to the reader wherever he is.

 

 

The poet Al-Kaoud said: The Mandela Prize in its first Arabic version is the ship that will carry me to the world where my books will be translated into multiple languages besides Arabic. I am happy to win this fierce competition with eighty-one of the best participating Arab poets.

 

It is worth noting that the “Mandela Prize for Literature” was launched in its first pioneering experience this year with high professionalism in terms of organization, arbitration competence, integrity, and privacy. It is organized by the Mandela Publishing, Advertising, and Translation Company in Chad. All literary genres, including poetry – story – collection of short stories – novels from different countries are available to participate in the competition, provided that the submitted work is written in classical Arabic, is free from spelling and grammatical errors, has not been previously published, and does not insult public beliefs and morals.

 

Amal Farhat