Lebanese author wins prize for Arabic fiction

Organizers say a Lebanese author has won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel depicting life of a Christian egg seller after war, in exile and during imprisonment. The prize is a prestigious Arabic literary award, affiliated with the Booker Prize Foundation in London Rabee Jaber's "The Druse of Belgrade" is set in Beirut in the 1860s. The protagonist, Hanna Yacoub, has assumed a false identity of a Druse fighter after civil war and is sent into exile. The book chronicles Yacoub's 12-year imprisonment and the suffering he experiences in Belgrade and other parts of the Balkans. The prize was awarded Tuesday in the Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi.