Due to the unprecedented volume of entries for the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature this year, and the limitations on reviewing those entries imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we regret to announce that the awarding of the Mahfouz Medal—normally scheduled for December 2020—is likely to be severely delayed this year.
Please note that submissions for the Naguib Mahfouz Medal closed on 1 March, 2020.
About the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature:
Since 1996 the AUC Press has presented the annual Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature, a major award in support of contemporary Arabic literature in translation, given for the best contemporary novel published in Arabic (but not yet in English) in the last two years and selected every fall by the Mahfouz Award Committee.
The award consists of a silver medal, a cash prize worth 5,000 US Dollars, as well as the publication worldwide in English translation by the AUC Press, of the novel. The Medal is presented annually on 11 December, the birthday of Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz, by the President of the American University in Cairo in the presence of the Egyptian Minister of Culture and many other prominent leaders of Egypt’s cultural life.