Katara Prize for Arabic Novel to kick off on Sunday

The fifth edition of Katara Prize for Arabic Novel will kick off next Sunday, featuring several programmes and activities over four days.Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, General Manager of the Katara Cultural Village Foundation Dr Khalid bin Ibrahim al-Sulaiti said that a novel lab, which is expected to be inaugurated during the fifth edition of Katara Prize for Arabic Novel, will provide support to novelists in Qatar under the supervision of professors and specialists in the field of Arabic novel and criticism.Katara narrative magazine and other activities will also be launched, he added.Al-Sulaiti underlined that Katara Prize for Arabic Novel, since its inception in 2014, adopted the mission of Katara Cultural Village which aims at supporting the Arab cultural scene and launching a real dialogue that contributes to strengthening the cultural co-existence in the world, and strives to achieve intellectual diversity in the Arab world.He believed that Katara Prize for Arabic Novel has achieved all its objectives in promoting and supporting the Arabic novel, and the formation of a platform to serve as a forum for creators to enrich cultural awareness, noting the role of the Prize and its accompanying events in introducing Arab novelists and critics and highlighting their role in enriching human culture in general and the Arabic literature in particular.Al-Sulaiti noted that late Tunisian writer and intellectual Mahmoud Messadi was selected to be the Person of the Year, as part of the events accompanying the Katara Prize for Arabic Novel, within the framework of an annual tradition of the Prize Committee to celebrate famous figures in the Arabic literature who made outstanding contributions to the service of the Arabic language.Katara has also selected the former Education Minister and linguistics expert Dr Mohamed Abdel-Rahim Kafoud to receive the “Al Dhad Shield” award for 2019, in recognition of his significant contributions to the advancement of the Arabic language in Qatar.