Tayeb Salih prize opens for submissions

The board of trustees of the literary prize named after the renowned Sudanese writer Tayeb Salih announces that they will continue to accept submissions until 31 August, 2012. The head of the board of trustees, Mohammed Shammou, said in a press conference in a hotel in the Sudanese capital Khartoum, that for the prize's third year, they aim for the writers to remember Tayeb Salih, who died in 2009, and to help promote the values of arts as well as cultural activity. The award has three categories: novel, short story and literary studies, whose submissions must meet the requirements listed below. - All works must be written in Arabic. - Novels should not be less than 30 - 40 thousand words; Short stories collections should contain a minimum of 10 to 15 stories. - Literary studies should be in the neighbourhood of 30 thousand words and should tackle one of these issues: Narrative phenomenon in Arabic novels, the modern formations of the Arabic novel, the Arabic novel and history. The grand prize is $10,000 in each category, $7,000 for the second-place winners and $5,000 for winners who come in third. Tayeb Salih, Sudan’s most renowned writer (1928 - 2009), is considered one of the fathers of Arabic literature. Known as the “Genius of the Arabic novel,” he lived most of his life between Britain, France and Qatar. He’s best known for his novel Moussem Al-Hijra Ela Ashammal (Season of Immigration to the North). The Tayeb Salih award board began accepting submissions on Sunday, 27 May.