Sheikh Zayed Book Award engages in cultural dialogue in London

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award held a seminar on "Exploring the Arab Culture in Other Languages" in London on Wednesday, which brought together an assembly of authors, publishers and translators.

The seminar commenced with a welcoming speech delivered by Abdullah Majed Al Ali, Acting Executive Director National Library Sector at the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, TCA Abu Dhabi.

Mr. Al Ali explained the role of the Department in fostering cultural initiatives, which span across Sheikh Zayed Book Award; the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, IPAF; as well as Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, alongside numerous initiatives in arts, such as Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Guggenheim Museum Abu Dhabi and the Zayed National Museum.

"Through all of these leading efforts, TCA Abu Dhabi aims to extend its outreach towards other cultures to encourage dialogue and bring creativity into the spotlight. We aim to celebrate intellectual, literary and critical works that enriched Arab and international cultural, literary and social life, not to mention reviving the publishing industry and catalyse the translation movement," he added.

During the seminar, Margaret Obank, publisher at Banipal magazine commented, "The Sheikh Zayed Book Award and Banipal have much in common since a central feature of the SZBA is cultural dialogue – dialogue that will enrich experience and knowledge of the other."

Dheyaa Al-Kaabi, a member of Sheikh Zayed Book Award Scientific Committee, elaborated on the role of Sheikh Zayed Book Award’s category for Arabic Culture in Other Languages in bringing depth to the cultural exchange between Arabic and other languages, via the winning titles in this category. "The role of the Award in this context is not only limited to this group, but the Cultural Personality of the Year Award has also named prominent figures in Orientalism," she added.

Representing the winners of the category, Prof. Marina Warner, the inaugural winner of the SZBA Arab Culture in Other Languages Award, presented her experience with the book that earned her the prize. The book tells the story of the 'Arabian Nights in Western Civilisation' from a thoroughly new and, until recently, little-understood angle. Warner reverted to numerous references, not only within Arabic and Islamic literature but across other cultures with similar narrations in mythography storytelling.