Hoda Barakat Wins 2025 Sheikh Zayed Book Award – ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY
APRIL 9, 2025 — Yesterday, Lebanese-French author Hoda Barakat won the Sheikh Zayed Book Award (SZBA) in the prize’s literature category, for her 2024 novel Hind, or the Most Beautiful Woman in the World. Barakat’s novel was chosen from among a shortlist of three; the novel centers on a mother who loses her traditionally beautiful firstborn, Hind, and when her second daughter, Hanadi, shows signs of acromegaly, which results in excess growth in certain part of the body, she hides this daughter away.
Organizers write that, “With a reflective narrative voice, [this novel] investigates the life of people who live on the margins of society. Barakat examines the psychological and physical challenges these individuals face, exploring beauty standards in various cultures through complex characters and a rich, analytical, and human-centric voice.”
Although Barakat previously won the International Prize for Arabic Fiction for her novel The Night Post, this latest novel was not longlisted for the IPAF, which suggests it was not submitted for the prize.
The children’s literature prize went to Moroccan writer Latifa Labsir for her The Phantom of Sabiba, which, organizers say, is, “Narrated from the perspective of an elder sister telling the story of her autistic brother,” adding that it “highlights the need for public awareness and a positive approach to autism, using a refined, artistic style that combines narrative aesthetic and a deep educational message.”
Other prizes included the translation category — which went to Marco Di Branco, for his translation of Kitāb Hurūshiyūsh, an Arabic reworking of work by Paulus Orosius — and the “Arab culture in other languages” category, which went to UK researcher Andrew Peacock for his book Arabic Literary Culture in Southeast Asia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. A complete list of the 2025 prizes can be found at the SZBA website.
The winner of the Cultural Personality of the Year Award, which this year went to Haruki Murakami, comes with a prize of AED 1 million, while winners in the other categories receive a prize of AED 750,000. Winning titles are also eligible for a $19,000USD publication grant, administered by award organizers.
