Qatar Foundation (QF) and the University of Granada have announced the winners of the first edition of the Radwa Ashour Award for Arabic Literature, an award created to support and celebrate outstanding literary talent in the Arabic language.

Nora Nagi from Egypt received the award in the “40 and Under” category while Mohammad Tarazi from Lebanon was recognised in the “Over 40” category.

For Nagi, being associated with the name of the great writer and her literary role model – Radwa Ashour with her profound human and literary legacy – is both an honour and a responsibility.

“I look forward to this inspiring literary journey, hoping it will be a fruitful opportunity for creativity and dialogue,” she said.

“Winning the Radwa Ashour Award embodies a commitment to human dignity and upholds the values to which she devoted her pen,” Tarazi said.

“It reminds me of the sincerity of words, and reaffirms my belief in literature as a form of resistance,” he said.

“The news of (me) winning this award filled me with gratitude and awe,” Tarazi continued. “Radwa Ashour’s name evokes a legacy of cultural struggle, and gives us all the moral courage to write against violence, carnage, and oblivion.”

The University of Granada will host both writers in the Andalusian city of Granada for an extended residency, where they will have the opportunity to develop their literary projects while engaging with local cultural and academic communities.

The Radwa Ashour Award for Arabic Literature was officially launched in November last year at the University of Granada in honour of Ashour.

Open exclusively to writers who craft in Arabic, the award reflects the QF’s commitment to promoting the Arabic language and preserving Arab-Islamic cultural heritage.

This annual award takes the form of a writing residency retreat in Granada, granted to two Arabic-language writers.

Recipients are selected based on the literary merit of their existing work and the promise of their proposed writing projects.

The selection process is overseen by a panel comprising authors, critics, and scholars from Radwa Ashour’s literary circle.

More than a recognition of literary excellence, the Radwa Ashour Award is a celebration of the power of Arabic literature to foster dialogue, deepen cultural understanding, and support creative freedom across the Arab world and beyond.