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  • Welcome to ALT Magazine & Press: Hazawi Prize Announces 2023 Shortlist: (Sana'a, Yemen) - The shortlist for the 2023 Hazawi Prize for Yemeni Literature has been revealed, announcing the ten writers who have been selected as finalists for this prestigious award.
  • Now in its second yearly round, the Hazawi Prize recognizes exceptional contributions to fiction in Yemeni literature. Organized by the Hazawi Cultural Foundation, this annual prize aims to promote Yemeni literature and support creative writers.
  • This year's shortlist features both emerging and renowned Yemeni authors. The ten works advancing to the final round of judging are:
  • - Abdullah Faisal shortlisted for his novel, Spirits and Secrets.
  • - Aisha Saleh shortlisted for her novel, Under the Ashes
  • - Farouk Merish shortlisted for his novel, A Dignified Stranger
  • - Ahmed Ashraf shortlisted for his novel, A Painful Belt
  • - Ghassan Khalid shortlisted for his novel, A Sky that Rains Fear
  • - Hosam Adel shortlisted for his novel, The Lord of the Black Dog
  • - Asmaa Abdulrazak shortlisted for her novel, Shrapnels
  • - Abdullah Abdu Muhammad shortlisted for his novel, The Road to Sana'a
  • - Najah Bahkeim shortlisted for her novel, The Final Decision
  • - Samir AbdulFattah shortlisted for her novel, What We Cannot See
  • The winner will be revealed at an award ceremony in Sana'a later where they will receive $1,500 USD. Second and third prizes of $1,000 USD each will also be awarded. All shortlisted works are celebrated for chronicling Yemen's rich culture and wartime experiences. This prestigious prize continues highlighting the nation's thriving literary community.
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Kerchiefs Rigged with Whiteness

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Eman Al-Saeedi’s poetry collection “Handkerchiefs Rigged with Whiteness” is a raw and evocative exploration of existence in a world filled with suffering and war. Translated from Arabic by Hatem Mohammed Al-Shamea, Al-Saeedi’s poems tackle themes of alienation, loss, grief, and the struggle to find hope and meaning amidst chaos.

The collection ranges in tone from melancholic lament to fiery protest. Al-Saeedi draws vivid imagery of bombed-out cities, faceless corpses, starving children, and other visceral scenes of human pain. Yet she also pays homage to the endurance of the human spirit, to art and poetry’s power to memorialize, and to the possibility of rebirth after ruin.

Written mainly in free verse, the poems employ metaphor, surreal juxtaposition, and rich sensory language to immerse the reader in the therapist’s heightened emotional states. While rooted in the particular experience of war in Yemen, Al-Saeedi’s raw outcries against violence and her search for beauty in a ravaged landscape speak to universal human truths.

This collection marks the emergence of a bold, new voice in Arab poetry. Al-Shamea’s sensitive translation aims to introduce Al-Saeedi’s work to English readers while retaining the essence of her distinctive style.

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