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The International Prize for Arabic Fiction Winner 2009-2010

Saudi author Abdo Khal was announced as the winner of the 2010 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel [Spewing Sparks as Big as Castles], published by Al-Jamal Publications, Baghdad and Beirut, 2009. A painfully satirical novel, Spewing Sparks -as Big as Castles depicts the destructive impact that power and limitless wealth has on life and the environment.
Chair of judges, Kuwaiti author Taleb Alrefai, who announcement the award, said the novel was “a brilliant exploration of the relationship between the individual and the state”. The three other members of the judging panel were Saif al-Rahbi, Omani writer and poet, Raja’ Ben Salamah, Tunisian lecturer from the Humanities Faculty of Manouba University in Tunisia and Frédéric LaGrange, French academic, translator and Head of the Arabic and Hebraic Department at the Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV).
Jonathan Taylor, Chairman of the Prize’s Trustees, said: “In its third year, the Prize has recognised and rewarded another outstanding novel.”