The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) was launched in 2007 to address the limited international availability of high-quality Arab fiction. We are delighted that past winners Raja Alem and Bahaa Taher, and former judge Paul Starkey will be joining us for a discussion about the importance and global impact of this prize, and the role that fiction can play in promoting cultural understanding between nations. Egyptian author Bahaa Taher was the winner of the first IPAF for his novel Sunset Oasis which, set at the end of the 19th century, tells the compelling story of a politically disgraced District Commissioner forced to take up post in the remote and dangerous oasis of Siwa. Saudi novelist Raja Alem was the joint winner of this year’s IPAF for The Doves’ Necklace, an astonishing story that reveals the secret life of the holy city of Mecca. British author and translator Paul Starkey is Head of the Arabic Department at the University of Durham and Co-Director of the Centre for the Advanced Study of the Arab World. This event will be chaired by Margaret Obank, publisher and administrator for the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature.

Part of Manchester Literature Festival.