2011 Arab American Book Award Winners Revealed

posted on: Jun 1, 2011

Established American literary luminaries and compelling new voices inspired by global events are represented among the winners of the 2011 Arab American Book Award presented by the Arab American National Museum.

This national literary competition, the only one of its kind in the U.S., is designed to draw attention to books and authors dealing with the Arab American experience. The program has attracted increasing numbers of submissions in its five-year history.

Four winners and three honorable mentions emerged from the 28 books published during 2010 that were submitted for consideration by genre-specific review committees:

<b>Winner – Fiction</b>
Loom: a Novel by Thérèse Soukar Chehade

<b>Winner – Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award</b>
Arab Americans in Toledo: Cultural Assimilation and Community Involvement edited by Samir Abu-Absi

<b>Winner – Poetry</b>
Tocqueville by Khaled Mattawa

<b>Winner – Children/ Young Adult</b>
Saving Sky by Diane Stanley

<b>Honorable Mention – Non-Fiction</B>
Barefoot in Baghdad by Manal M. Omar

<b>Honorable Mention – Poetry</b>
This Isa Nice Neighborhood by Farid Matuk

<b>Honorable Mention – Children/ Young Adult</B>
Time to Pray by Maha Addasi, illustrated by Ned Gannon

The 2011 Arab American Book Award ceremony, set Thursday, September 29 at the Carnegie Institution, 1530 P Street NW in Washington, D.C., will honor this year’s winners and celebrate the centennial of Ameen Rihani’s The Book of Khaled, considered to be the first work of Arab American literature. In addition, the ceremony will include a tribute to the late Arab American author Evelyn Shakir; beginning this year, the Book Awards’ Non-Fiction Award will be named for Shakir.

Submissions are currently being accepted for the 2012 Arab American Book Award. Authors and publishers may contact Kristin LaLonde at 313.624.0223 or klalonde@accesscommunity.org for nomination forms and criteria. Submission deadline is February 1, 2012.

The winning titles are chosen by groups of selected readers including respected authors, university professors, artists and AANM staff. The AANM first gave these awards in 2007 for books published in 2006.

Arab American National Museum