The novel "Lunch at the Cook's House" by author Mohamed El-Fakharani won the award for Best Novel at the 55th Cairo International Book Fair, which concluded today, Tuesday. El-Fakharani told Reuters, "The award means a lot to me because it is from Egypt, from the Cairo Book Fair. I believe that any Egyptian cultural award or cultural product issued from Egypt holds great significance."
The novel, published by Dar Al-Ain, spans 141 pages and generally explores the idea of war, focusing on what can happen between two soldiers from opposing sides who, due to circumstances, were forced to stay together in a single trench for five days.
Other awards from the fair went to poet Abdo El-Masry in the popular poetry category for his collection "Life Wasn't Better," and poet Jamal Al-Qasas in the classical poetry category for his collection "There Was Music Here." In the short story category, the award went to writer Khabeeb Sayyam for his collection "One Rose Was Enough." The Children's Literature award was jointly awarded to Ahmed Abdel-Naeem for his book "The Hero of the Tale is City Tutta Tutta" and Safaa Farid for her poetry collection "My Friends."
In the literary criticism category, the award was also jointly awarded to Mohamed Ibrahim Abdel-Al for his book "Towards a Methodology of Cultural Analysis of Literature" and Hossam Jayel for "Textual Cohesion in Arabic Poetry." In the translation category, the award went to Mohamed Sabry Al-Dali for his translation of the book "Guiding Movement Through Maritime Channels: Migration and Globalization in the Suez Canal Region and Beyond" by German researcher Valiska Huber.
Dar Al-Hekma Cultural Industries Group won the award for Best Egyptian Publisher, while the award for Best Arab Publishing House was jointly awarded to Dar Al-Rawaq from Egypt and Mediations Publishing based in Milan. The 55th edition of the Cairo International Book Fair featured the participation of 1,200 publishers from 70 Arab and foreign countries, with a new record set for the number of visitors exceeding four million.
