Each year, a committee of distinguished judges selected a winner from upwards of 150 novels submitted for the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature. Beginning in 2020, a shortlist for the award was also introduced, and since 2022, the medal has been awarded every two years. The 2024 shortlist was announced on 30 August to commemorate the anniversary of the Nobel laureate’s passing. The award ceremony is typically held on 11 December—the anniversary of Naguib Mahfouz’s birth—during which the winner is revealed.
The 2020 Shortlisted Novels for the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature
The six shortlisted titles were chosen from 270 novels submitted across the Arab world and diaspora.
The shortlist included:
- The Disappearance of Mr. Nobody by Ahmed Taibaoui (Algeria) – Winner
- In the Dust Cities by Amal Radwan (Egypt)
- The Fort of al-Zidi by Algarby Omran (Yemen)
- The Neighborhood of Wonder by Maha Hassan (Syria)
- The Stone in Khallaf’s House by Mohammad Aly Ibrahim (Egypt)
- Kohl and Cardamom by Omar Taher (Egypt).
The jury members were Shereen Abouelnaga (chair), literary critic and professor of English and comparative literature at Cairo University; Humphrey Davies, award-winning translator of Arabic literature into English; Thaer Deeb, translator, writer, and critic; Samah Selim, translator and associate professor of Arabic language and literature at Rutgers University in the US; and Hebba Sherif, writer, literary critic, and cultural consultant.
