The IPAF’s, or Arab Man Booker prize awarded in Abu Dhabi, long list of 16 titles was very recently published!
The 16 titles below were chosen out of the 121 titles presented for the competition by Arab publishers:

-Mohammad Abu Maatuq, Syria: The lamp and the genie | al Qomqom wa al janni
-Ali Bader, Iraq: The tobacco guardian | Hares al tabegh
-Mohammad Al Bisati, Egypt: Hunger | Juu
-Rabih Jaber, Lebanon: The confessions | al Iitirafat
-Abd al Karim al Juwaytli, Morocco: Destruction unit | Katibat al kharab
-Renée al Hayek, Lebanon: Prayer for the family | Salat min ajl al aa’ila
-Fawaz Haddad, Syria: The betraying translator | al Mutarjem al Khayen
-Salem Hamish, Morocco: This Andalusian | Haza al andalusi
-Yussef Zaydan, Egypt: Devil | Aazazil
-Habib al Salmi, Tunisia: The smell of Marie Claire | Rawa’ih Marie Claire
-Ezzedin al Shukri, Egypt: Special care unit | Ghurfat al inaya al murakkaza
-Inaam Kjaji, Iraq: The Amerian grand-daughter | Al hafida al amirkiya
-Ibrahim al Koni, Lybia: The blob | Al warm
-Ali al maqri, Yemen: Black taste black smell | Taam aswad ra’ihat sawda
-Ibrahim Nasrallah, Jordan: The time of white horses | Zaman al khuyul al bayda
-Yahya Yakhlof, Palestine: The water from the sky | Ma’ al sama’

The short list of 6 finalists to this second edition of the IPAF should be announced by February, and the winner in March.

The Arab Man Booker prize had caught quite some attention on the international scene last year, for its first edition. One of its kind, this internationally renown prize contributes to an increased visibility of the Arab book market. The prize, awarded in Abu Dhabi, may be taken, along with the Abu Dhabi Book Fair like a further initiative to professionalize, invigorate, and communicate about, the Arab book industry.