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The Sheikh Zayed Book Award has announced its long-list of entries contesting its Arabic Culture in non-Arab language category which recognises written works tackling Arab civilisation and culture, including humanities, fine arts, literature (novels, shorts stories, poems) and history, all produced in non-Arabic languages.

Ten books have been selected following the conclusion of the Awards Reading Panels deliberations. The longlist includes works in English, Spanish and Japanese and cover subjects from Arabic history and literature to scholarly research in the art of Arabic writing.

Book title Author Language Publisher
1 Arabian-naito to Nihon-jin (The Arabian Night and Japanese) Sugita Hideaki Japanese Iwanami Shoten (2012)
2 Leer La Alhambra
(Reading Al Hambra) Jose Miguel Puerta Vilchez Spanish Edicin Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife, Granada (2011)
3 Los traductores de rabe del Estado espaol. Del Protectorado a nuestros das (Arabic Translators in Spain) Arias-Torres & Feria-Garca Spanish Bellaterra, Barcelona (2012)
4 Teoras sobre el amor en la cultura rabe medieval (Theories of love in Arabic Culture in Middle Ages) Emilio Tornero Spanish Siruela (2014)
5 The [European] Other in Medieval Arabic Literature and Culture, Ninth-Twelfth Century AD. Nizar F. Hermes English Palgrave MacMillan (2012)
6 Reading Darwin in Arabic, 1860-1950 Marwa Elshakry English The University of Chicago Press (2013)
7 The Arab Nahda: The Making of the Intellectual and Humanist Movement (The Philosophy of Image) Abdulrazzak Patel English Edinburgh University Press (2013)
8 Ancient Religions, Modern Politics: The Islamic Case in Comparative Perspective Michael Cook English Princeton (2014)
9 The Cosmic Script: Sacred Geometry and the Science of Arabic Penmanship Ahmed Moustafa and Stefan Sperl English Inner Traditions (2014)
10 Al Jahiz: In Praise of Books James Montgomery English Edinburgh University Press (2013)

Italian scholar and historian, Mario Liverani, won the categorys 2014 Award for his book Immaginare Babele (Imagining Babylon). The winning book was named a masterpiece in archaeology for it reconstructs the ancient city of Babylons cultural history by showing the relationship between archaeological research and a variety of historical and political contexts. The author sketches the citys architecture in light of its conceptual and institutional foundations, and supports the rich piece of work with extensive research and impressive bibliography.

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award's first installment was in 2007 when it was intended to promote scholarship and creativity in Arab culture. It carries cash prizes totaling AED 7 million - with AED750,000 per winner (equivalent to USD 204,217.50) in all eight categories (including the Arab Culture in non-Arabic languages category). The winners also receive a certificate of merit and a Gold Medal.

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