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Sheikh Zayed Book Award

Annual UAE literary award honoring writers, intellectuals and publishers who contribute to Arab cultural, literary and social life.

Sheikh Zayed Award for ArtsSheikh Zayed Award for Best Technology in the Cultural FieldSheikh Zayed Award for Children's LiteratureSheikh Zayed Award for Cultural Personality of the YearSheikh Zayed Award for Development and State BuildingSheikh Zayed Award for LiteratureSheikh Zayed Award for Manuscript EditingSheikh Zayed Award for Publishing and DistributionSheikh Zayed Award for TranslationSheikh Zayed Award for Young AuthorPublishing and TechnologyLiterary and Art CriticismArabic Culture in Other LanguagesPublishing and Distribution
Established
2007
Organizer
Board of Trustees of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award
Category
Research, Translation, and Scholarship
Selection Method
Recommendation
Target
Professional
Frequency
1 per year
Application Deadline
around September
Announcement Period
around April–May
Status
Active

Description

The Sheikh Zayed Book Award is an annual literary prize presented in the United Arab Emirates to authors, intellectuals and publishers whose works and scholarly publications have contributed to Arab cultural, literary and social life. Named after Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the award held its first session in 2007. With a total prize pool reported at AED 7,000,000 it is one of the world's richest literary awards. The award spans multiple categories (Literature, Translation, Arabic Culture in Other Languages, Cultural Personality of the Year, Children's Literature, Young Author, publishing/technology categories, etc.). In 2018 the Award launched a translation grant to encourage translation of Arabic literature into other languages.

Prize

Main Prize
Total prize pool AED 7,000,000. Cultural Personality of the Year: AED 1,000,000. Other main category winners receive substantial cash prizes (historically reported around USD 200,000 each, amounts vary).
Cash Prize
7,000,000 AED
  • Cultural Personality of the Year: 1,000,000 AED
  • Other category winners: historically reported around $200,000 each (amounts vary by year and category)
  • Translation grant / translation funding (launched 2018) to support publication of shortlisted or winning works

Selection

Selection Process

Nomination / Submission
Judges Nominations and submissions considered according to official rules (publishers, cultural institutions and authorised nominators).
Announcement Nominations accepted per award timetable; longlist/shortlist information published on official site.
Shortlist selection
Judges Category-specific expert panels and juries review submitted/nominated works to create shortlists.
Announcement Shortlists are announced publicly via the award's official website and press releases.
Final judging
Judges Final winners selected by the juries in consultation with the Award's Board of Trustees.
Announcement Winners are announced via official website, press release and at public award events/ceremonies.
Award presentation
Judges
Announcement Prizes are presented at official ceremonies or recognition events; details posted on the official site.

Criteria

  • Contribution to Arab cultural, literary and social life
  • Literary merit and originality
  • Scholarly quality and research rigour (for academic categories)
  • Translation quality and fidelity (for Translation and Arabic Culture in Other Languages categories)
  • Cultural significance and impact

Related Awards

  • Sheikh Zayed Book Award Translation Grant (launched 2018) — translation funding for shortlisted and winning works

Official Resources

https://www.zayedaward.ae/

Past Winners

Haruki Murakami むらかみ はるき Winner
Hoda Barakat Winner
Hind or the Most Beautiful Woman in the World (Dar Aladab, 2024)

The novel follows Hanadi, whose appearance changes after acromegaly, and the mother who cannot reconcile herself to her daughter, tracing rejection and attachment across Beirut and Paris. It reflects on beauty norms, self-image, and the unsettling drift between memory and exile.

A change in appearance quietly unravels family memory and self-image.

328 pages
beauty normsalienationmother and daughterillness and the bodymemoryexile
Latifa Labsir Winner

Seen through Hiba's eyes, the novel follows her autistic brother Raji's way of experiencing the world and the misunderstandings that arise at home and at school. It emphasizes empathy, imagination, and the need to understand difference with care.

Through an older sister's voice, her younger brother's world slowly comes into focus.

144 pages
autismfamilyschool lifeempathychildren and young adultsunderstanding difference

This scholarly study examines the spread of Arabic literary culture in early modern Southeast Asia through manuscripts and other little-studied texts. It brings into focus intellectual exchange with the Middle East, the development of Islam and Sufism, and the relationship between Arabic and Malay literary traditions.

Manuscript fragments are used to rethink the reach of Arabic culture across Southeast Asia.

536 pages
Arabic literary cultureSoutheast Asiamanuscript studiesIslamic historySufismintellectual exchange

This critical edition and translation revisits the Arabic version of Orosius's history through English translation and commentary. It shows how a Latin historical work was reworked in the Arabic and Islamic world, and how classical knowledge was received and transformed there.

It traces how a Latin classic was reimagined in the Arabic world.

1644 pages
classical receptiontranslationArabic manuscriptsLatin historiographyal-Andaluscomparative literature

This annotated critical edition revisits the rare work attributed to Usama ibn Munqidh and re-evaluates the traditions and records it preserves about women. It restores the text as a source of literary and historical value.

It rereads fragile records of women through careful scholarly editing.

700 pages
women's historytextual editingArabic literaturemanuscript studiessocial historysource criticism
Mohamed Bashari Achievement Award

Drawing on Islamic jurisprudence and social experience, the book asks how a Muslim woman's labor and contribution to family wealth should be recognized. It organizes contemporary debate around economic justice within the family and its legal grounding.

It reconsiders, through law and ethics, how women's labor supports family wealth.

552 pages
Muslim women's rightsIslamic jurisprudencefamily wealtheconomic justicesocial reformgender
Said Laouadi Winner
Food and Language: Cultural Excavations in Arab Heritage (Afrique Orient, 2023)

The book reads the relationship between food and rhetoric in Arab heritage across poetry, proverbs, and stories. It shows how dining, food vocabulary, and literary expression are bound together in cultural imagination.

It explores how the language of the table has woven Arab cultural memory.

295 pages
rhetoricfood cultureArab heritageliterary criticismproverbspoetry
Frank Griffel Winner
Khalifa Alromaithi Achievement Award
Mustafa Said Winner
Ahmed Somai Winner
Casa Árabe かさ・あらべ Winner
cultural institution

A Spanish cultural institution that promotes exchange with the Arab world and works to advance Arabic language and culture across Europe and Latin America.

Ali Al Saadi Winner
Said Khatibi Winner
Omar Khairat おまーる・かいらーと Winner
1948-11-11 / musician and composer

An Egyptian musician and composer whose long career has left a lasting mark on the Arab region's musical and screen culture.

Maria Dadouch Winner
Maisoon Saqer Winner
Ahmed Aladawi Winner
Abdullah Al-Ghathami あぶだら・ある・がざみ Winner
literary critic and scholar

A Saudi scholar and critic whose work in literary criticism, women's studies, poetry, and critical thinking has helped reshape Arab critical discourse since the mid-1980s.

Lateefa Buti Winner

Written as children’s literature, the book gently explores acceptance, coexistence, and the value of difference. Its imaginative shape encourages an open view of the world around us.

A gentle story about the importance of acceptance.

children’s literaturecoexistencediversityimaginationfriendship
Mohammad Chahrour Achievement Award

An intellectual work that reconsiders basic ideas of faith, social consciousness, and religious belonging in order to reframe modern understandings of Islam. Its reformist outlook encourages ethical reflection rather than polemic.

It reframes religion and society as a question of thought, not just institutions.

religious thoughtfaithsocial consciousnessreformIslam
Ziad Bou Akl Winner

A French translation of an Arabic study on Ibn Rushd that organizes the core of Arab thought around the relationship between law and philosophy. Through translation and annotation, it extends the ground for comparative intellectual history.

Translation makes the link between law and philosophy in Arab thought more visible.

501 pages
Islamic jurisprudencetranslationArab philosophyscholarshipcomparative thought
Abbas Beydoun Winner

A novel by a Lebanese poet-writer set in an Arab village, tracing a father-son relationship shaped by violence and authoritarian pressure. Its lyrical voice turns social critique into a layered fable.

Father-son rupture and violence unfold as a village fable.

190 pages
familyviolenceauthoritarianismfableLebanese literature

A critical study that examines the possibilities of literary fiction through references to myth and philosophical debate. It probes how imagination works in literature from both theoretical and practical angles.

It reconsiders the power of fiction from both theory and example.

literary theorymythphilosophycriticismimagination
David Wirmer Winner

A research book that traces the movement from thinking about nature to the nature of thought through the intersection of philosophy after Kant and biology. By linking conceptual history with the history of science, it reconsiders the frame of modern thought.

It rethinks the shape of thought at the point where philosophy meets biology.

784 pages
history of philosophybiologyconceptual historyscholarshipGerman thought
Kalimat Group Winner
Amin Maalouf あみん まるーふ Winner
ジャマル・サナド・アル=スワイディ じゃまる さなど ある-すわいでぃ Achievement Award

A sweeping study that analyzes the history, ideology, and social impact of political religious groups from multiple angles. It reframes the conflict between religion and politics as an intellectual struggle rather than a military one.

A major study that rereads political religious movements as intellectual history.

385 pages
politicsreligious thoughtsocial analysiscontemporary studies
Keyan Yahya けやん やひや Winner

An Arabic translation of a classic work on the relation between language, thought, and signs. It is positioned as a foundational book for thinking about how meaning is produced through abstract theory.

A classic of semantics reread in Arabic.

396 pages
translationphilosophy of languagesemanticssemiotics
Ibrahim Abdel Meguid いぶらひむ あぶでるめぐいど Winner

A literary autobiography that traces the author’s career alongside political, social, and cultural change. It speaks openly about the origins of his work and the making of his fiction, while evoking the literary density of Alexandria.

A literary autobiography that speaks frankly about the making of fiction.

334 pages
autobiographymodern Arabic literaturecreative processliterary history
Said Yaktine さいーど やくてぃね Winner

A theoretical work that revisits the basic framework of Arab literary criticism. It organizes questions of literature and criticism within an Arab intellectual context and lays out a scholarly foundation for debate.

A theoretical book about the foundations of Arab literary criticism.

240 pages
literary criticismArabic literaturetheoryintellectual history
Roshdi Rashed ろしゅでぃ らしっど Winner

A scholarly study that traces the history of the concept of angle and its measurement from Euclid to Arabic science. It reads Greek and Arabic texts closely and reconnects the histories of mathematics and philosophy.

A study of the concept of angle across the histories of mathematics and philosophy.

706 pages
history of sciencehistory of mathematicsphilosophytranslation studies
ダール・アル=サーキ だーる ある-さーき Winner
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum もはめど びん らーしど ある-まくとぅーむ Winner
Hanawa Haruo はなわ はるお Winner
Osama Alaysa おさま あらいさ Winner
Sugita Hideaki すぎた ひであき Winner
アラブ・サイエンティフィック・パブリッシャーズ あらぶ さいえんてぃふぃっく ぱぶりっしゃーず Winner
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud あぶどっらー びん あぶどぅるあずぃーず Winner
サイード・アブドゥッラー・アル・ソヤン さいーど あぶどぅっらー ある そやん Achievement Award

A sweeping study that follows the idea of evolution beyond biology into social, cultural, linguistic, and economic history.

Human evolution is reconsidered across multiple fields of study.

1104 pages
evolutionhuman historysocial sciencecultural historyscholarship
Jawdat Fakhr Eldine じゃうだと ふぁふる えるでぃーね Winner

Thirty poems on nature, family, school, play, and imagination introduce children to the rhythm and sound of Arabic verse.

Gentle language and poetic rhythm open a child’s senses and imagination.

64 pages
children’s poetryArabic languagenatureimaginationeducation
ラミ・アブ・シハブ らみ あぶ しはぶ Winner

A critical study that maps post-colonial discourse in contemporary Arab criticism from both theoretical and practical angles.

The book presents a new horizon for criticism as a theoretical map.

287 pages
post-colonial studiesArab criticismcultural theoryliterary criticismscholarship
Mohammed Al Tahir Al Mansouri もはめど ある-たひーる ある-まんすーり Winner

A historical study of how lodging, trade, and travel institutions developed across the Mediterranean from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages.

The history of inns, trade, and travel becomes a way to reread the interconnected Mediterranean world.

440 pages
Mediterranean historylodgingtradetravelmedieval studies
Abdel Rasheed Mahmoudi あぶでる らしーど まふむーでぃ Winner

A man raised in an Egyptian village travels through Ismailia and Vienna across four decades, moving through love, music, and exile.

A life that begins in the village and expands across cities and continents is told with quiet intensity.

421 pages
Egypttravelmusiclovelonging
Mario Liverani まりお りゔぇらーに Winner

A major work of history and archaeology that traces how ancient Babylon has been imagined and reconstructed in the modern era.

The book follows modern imagination around the question of “real Babylon.”

488 pages
ancient Near EastBabylonarchaeologyhistoriographyscholarship
ハウス・オブ・ウィズダム(House of Wisdom) はうす おぶ うぃずだむ Winner
Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed El-Tayeb あふめど える-たいえぶ Winner
Marina Warner まりーな わーなー Winner
Fathi Meskini ふぁてぃ めすきに Winner
Abdullah Ibrahim Iraq あぶどっらー いぶらひむ Winner
クウェート国民文化芸術評議会 くうぇーと こくみん ぶんか げいじゅつ ひょうぎかい Winner
Elizabeth Kassab えりざべす かさぶ Achievement Award
アディル・ハジャミ あでぃる はじゃみ Winner
UNESCO ゆねすこ Winner
シェイカー・アブデル=ハミド しぇいかー あぶでる-はみど Winner
Mohamed Habib Marzouki もはめど はびーぶ まるずーき Winner
ライラ・アル=オバイディ らいら ある-おばいでぃ Winner
Brill Publishers ぶりる ぱぶりっしゃーず Winner
パジュ・ブックシティ ぱじゅ ぶっくしてぃ Winner
Abdo Wazen あぶど わぜん Winner
ショング・ジクン しょんぐ じくん Winner
アブドゥル・ラウフ・シンノ あぶどぅる らうふ しんの Achievement Award
Mohammad Miftah もはんまど みふたふ Winner
Mohammad Ziyad Kibbeh もはんまど じやーど きっべ Winner
Affaf Tobbala あふぁふ とっばら Winner
Khalid bin Muhammad Al Qasimi はりーど びん もはめど ある-かしみ Winner
アマール・AM・ハサン あまーる あーえむ はさん Achievement Award

A religious and historical study of the political establishment of Sufism in Egypt.

A religious and historical study of the political establishment of Sufism in Egypt.

religious historypoliticsEgypt studies
モハンマド・アル=マッラク もはんまど ある-まっらく Winner

A linguistics study of time in Arabic language, its structure, and its significance.

A linguistics study of time in Arabic language, its structure, and its significance.

linguisticssemanticsArabic language
Albert Habib Mutlaq あるべーる はびーぶ むとらく Winner

An encyclopedia-style reference work on animals.

An encyclopedia-style reference work on animals.

encyclopediaanimalsreference
イアド・アル=フセイニ いあど ある-ふせいに Winner

A design theory book that addresses philosophy, theory, and application.

A design theory book that addresses philosophy, theory, and application.

designtheoryaesthetics
Qais Sedki かいす せどき Winner

A coming-of-age manga about Sultan, a 15-year-old Emirati boy, and the falconry contest Gold Ring.

A coming-of-age manga about Sultan, a 15-year-old Emirati boy, and the falconry contest Gold Ring.

children’s literaturemangafalconryArab culture
ナフデト・ミスル(Nahdet Misr) なふでと みする Winner
Hafnaoui Baali はふなうぃ ばーあり Winner

An introductory guide to comparative cultural criticism.

An introductory guide to comparative cultural criticism.

criticismcomparative cultureintroduction
ペドロ・マルティネス・モンタベス ぺどろ まるてぃねす もんたべす Winner
Gamal al-Ghitani じゃまる ある-ぎーたーに Winner

A Jamal al-Ghitani novel grounded in Egyptian history and symbolism.

A Jamal al-Ghitani novel grounded in Egyptian history and symbolism.

novelEgyptian literaturehistory
マヘル・ラディ まへる らでぃ Winner

A reflective work that uses the metaphor of light to explore knowledge and spirituality.

A reflective work that uses the metaphor of light to explore knowledge and spirituality.

literaturethoughtmetaphor
Saad Abdulaziz Maslouh さーど あぶでるあじーず まするーふ Winner

An overview of contemporary trends in translation theory.

An overview of contemporary trends in translation theory.

translation studiestheorylanguage
Baqer Al-Najjar ばーかー ある-なっじゃーる Achievement Award

A sociological study of democracy in the Arabian Gulf and its political structures.

A sociological study of democracy in the Arabian Gulf and its political structures.

sociologypoliticsGulf studies
ユセフ・オグリシ ゆせふ おぐりし Winner

A linguistic and critical study of terminology in contemporary Arab discourse.

A linguistic and critical study of terminology in contemporary Arab discourse.

linguisticscriticismmodern Arab thought
Egyptian-Lebanese Publishing House えじぷと ればのん しゅっぱんしゃ Winner
Mohamed Benaissa もはめど べないっさ Winner
Ibrahim al-Koni いぶらひむ ある-くーに Winner

An Ibrahim al-Koni novel set against the Sahara and nomadic culture.

An Ibrahim al-Koni novel set against the Sahara and nomadic culture.

noveldesert cultureSahara
Rifat Chadirji りふぁーと ちゃでぃるじ Winner

A theoretical work on the relationship between causality, concept, and architectural form.

A theoretical work on the relationship between causality, concept, and architectural form.

architecture theorydesignaesthetics
Faiz Assayagh ふぁいず あさやー Winner

A general sociology text that presents the field’s core concepts and approaches.

A general sociology text that presents the field’s core concepts and approaches.

sociologytheoryoverview
モハメド・サアディ もはめど さあでぃ Winner

A study of international relations from the clash-of-civilizations debate to a humanized civilizational order.

A study of international relations from the clash-of-civilizations debate to a humanized civilizational order.

international relationspolitical sciencecivilizational theory
エミレーツ科学研究センター えみれーつ かがく けんきゅう せんたー Winner
Hooda Shawa Qaddumi ふーだ ある-しゃうわ かどうみ Winner

An illustrated retelling of the Sufi allegory in which birds journey to Qaf Mountain.

An illustrated retelling of the Sufi allegory in which birds journey to Qaf Mountain.

children’s literatureSufi literatureallegory
Denys Johnson-Davies でにす じょんそん でいびす Winner
Waciny Laredj わしに られじ Winner

A historical novel about Emir Abdelkader’s resistance to the French occupation of Algeria in the nineteenth century.

A historical novel about Emir Abdelkader’s resistance to the French occupation of Algeria in the nineteenth century.

historical fictionAlgeriaresistance
タルワト・ウカシャ たるわと うかしゃ Winner

A landmark survey of Indian art that moves from architecture, sculpture, and painting to dance, music, and literature.

A landmark survey of Indian art that moves from architecture, sculpture, and painting to dance, music, and literature.

art historyIndiaarchitecture
Georges Zinaty じょるじゅ じなてぃ Winner

A translated work recognized for bridging French and Arabic literary cultures.

A translated work recognized for bridging French and Arabic literary cultures.

translationliterature
バシール・モハメド・アル=カドラ ばしーる もはめど ある かどら Achievement Award

A study of Arab political leadership and democracy through the prophetic and caliphal model.

A study of Arab political leadership and democracy through the prophetic and caliphal model.

politicsdemocracyIslamic history
マフムード・ザイン・アル=アベディーン まふむーど ざいん ある あべでぃん Winner

An architectural history study of Ottoman mosques and their structural development.

An architectural history study of Ottoman mosques and their structural development.

architectural historyOttoman architecturereligious architecture
モハメド・アリー・アフマド もはめど ありー あふまど Winner

A children’s series that combines images and text to make scientific topics accessible.

A children’s series that combines images and text to make scientific topics accessible.

children’s literaturescienceeducation