Top Arab writers vie for prestigious Kuwait short story prize

KUWAIT CITY –

Kuwait continues its vibrant celebration as the Arab Capital of Culture and Arab Media for 2025, with the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) taking centre stage in honouring Arab literary talent. In collaboration with the Al-Multaqa Prize for Arabic Short Story, the council will host the eighth edition of the award at the Kuwait National Library from February 3-5. During the event, the award’s jury will convene to select this year’s winner.

The judging panel is chaired by Mohamed Elshahat, with members Abdulrahman Al-Tamareh, Aisha al-Darmaki, Samihah Khreis, and Istabraq Ahmed. In recognition of Kuwait’s pioneering literary figures, this edition carries the name of the late Fadel Khalaf (1927–2023), celebrated as the first Kuwaiti short story writer to publish a collection, “Youthful Dreams,” in 1955.

The nomination period for the 2025/2026 edition ran from May 1 to the end of June 2025. Following a careful screening process, the organisers confirmed a total of 231 submissions from 28 countries across the Arab world and beyond. The jury applied rigorous creative and critical standards, assessing originality, narrative perspective, imagination, the precision of titles, language experimentation, word choice, sentence construction, character development, plot, spatial and temporal coherence, dialogue techniques, symbolic depth and the stories’ ability to reflect contemporary human issues, the spirit of the age and the realities of daily life.

In December 2025, the longlist was announced. Following extensive discussions, the jury unveiled the shortlist, arranged alphabetically by the authors’ names. The shortlisted works include Amani Suleiman Dawood from Jordan with “Iceberg” (Arab Studies & Publishing House), Sherine Fathi from Egypt with “Cello Player” (Dar Al Ain Publishing), Mahmoud al-Rahbi from Oman with “No Bar in Chicago” (Oman Oxygen Publishing), Nada al-Shahrani from Qatar with “Spotted Heart” (Hamad Bin Khalifa University Press), and Haitham Hussein from Syria/UK with “When the Mountain Walks” (Ramina Publications).

The National Library will host the full suite of events, including the jury deliberations, the award announcement and a two-day accompanying cultural symposium featuring prominent Arab and Kuwaiti writers. The celebrations will also see the publication of a commemorative volume titled “Selections from the Arabic Short Story,” alongside Fadel Khalaf’s “Youthful Dreams” with a foreword by Sulaiman Al-Shatti, as well as a dedicated memorial book about the late author.

Speaking at the occasion, Talib al-Rifai, founder and chairman of the award’s board, expressed pride in the strong partnership with the NCCAL.

 “We are delighted that Kuwait continues to shine as a luminous platform for the Arab short story. Over the past ten years, the award has annually highlighted the work of emerging storytellers across the Arab world, sharing their narratives with international audiences through translations into multiple languages,” he said.

The eighth edition of the Al-Multaqa Prize for Arabic Short Story reaffirms Kuwait’s role as a centre for literary creativity and cultural exchange in the Arab world, providing a prestigious platform for authors to showcase their work while celebrating the nation’s rich literary heritage.