El-Adl, Khaled Tawfik and Mekkawi Said win Cairo Int'l Book Fair awards amid controversies

Egyptian authors Medhat El-Adl, Khaled Tawfik and Mekkawi Said all won LE10,000 ($1,490) prizes at the Cairo International Book Fair's (CIBF) best of 2013 awards gala last Wednesday, despite a controversial ceremony which saw Kuwait double the prize money given and an unpublished collection of poems win a top award.

El-Adl's poetry collection, Rasif Nemra 5 (Platform No 5), was named one of the two best books of 2013 in the CIBF's slang poetry category. However, the book was not set to be published until two days later, essentially making it invalid for an award given to books from last year.

It wasn't the only contested part of the awards ceremony. The judging panel list was not disclosed, against normal tradition. Also, Kuwait stepped in unexpectedly as this year's guest of honour and doubled the number of prizes normally given by the fair's sponsor, the General Egyptian Book Organisation (GEBO), so that there were now two winners in each of the 10 categories.

A special prize was granted this year for the first time to the Kuwaiti book series Alam Al-Marifah and the Kuwaiti writer Talib Al-Rifai.

Here's a full list of all CIBF 2014 winners.

Novel:

Sobhy Moussa, Asatir Ragol Altholathaa (The Myths of the Tuesday Guy), released from GEBO

Ashraf El-Ashmawy,The Bar Man, released from Al-Dar Al-Masirah Al-Alubnaniah.

Arts:

Galal Amin Saleh, Ahla Alhouwla (The Best Jewelry)

Ahmed Abdel-Kaarim, Nozom Tasmim Al-Funoon Al-Basaria (Organising Visual Arts Systems).

Science:

El-Sayed Hanafy, Al-Idara bi ltag Al-Marifa (Managing Production of Knowledge)

Mohammed Khalil El-Hakim, Ashams Kinz (The Sun is the Treasure of Renewable Energy)

Short story collection:  

Mekkawi Said, Al-Lamrioun (The Invisibles)

Mansoura Ezzeddin, Nahw Al-Gonoon (Towards Madness)

Slang poetry:

Medhat El-Adl, Rasif Nemra 5 (Platform No 5)

Fatma El-Morsi, Robaiyat Bel-Balady (Oriental Robaiyat)

Children's:

Ahmed Khaled Tawfiq, Ketab El-Hawadeet (The Book of Tales)

Fatma Sharaf Eddin, Abgad Hawaz (ABC).

Social sciences:

Shehat Seyam, Tan’neth El-Deen (The Femininity of Religion)

Mohammed Younis, Tagdid El-Khitab Al-Islamy (Renovating Islamic Discourse)

Heritage:

Ahmed Zakaria El-Shalq, Hawliat Al-SIyasa AMasriya (Periodicals of Egyptian Policy)

Abu Yacqoub El-Masry, Fiqh AlShafie (Al-Shafie Sharia Law)

Poetry:

Salah El-Laqani, Marj Al-Bahrain (Mixing Seas)

Ibrahim Abdel-Fattah, La Shai’ Yahmel Esmak El-Qadeem (Nothing Looks like Your Old Face)

Politics:

Mohammed Zaki, Okasha for Hadith El-Nesowr (Hawks Talk)

Abdel-Sattar Meligy, Ekhtitaf Thawra (Kidnapping a Revolution)

Best publisher:

Kalimat Publishing House