Palestinian Author Wins International Prize For Arabic Fiction While Imprisoned In Israel

Basim Khandaqji, a Palestinian writer imprisoned in Israel 20 years ago, won a prestigious prize for Arabic fiction on Sunday for his novel ‘A Mask, the Colour of the Sky’.

The 2024 International Prize for Arabic Fiction was announced during an event in Abu Dhabi.

Rana Idriss, owner of Dar al-Adab, the book’s publisher based in Lebanon, accepted the prize on Khandaqji’s behalf.

Khandaqji was born in Nablus, an Israeli-occupied West Bank city, in 1983, and wrote short tales until his detention in 2004 at the age of 21.

He was convicted and imprisoned on accusations related to a deadly bombing in Tel Aviv and completed his university studies from within the prison through the web.

The mask in the novel’s title refers to the blue identity card that Nur, an archaeologist living in a Ramallah refugee camp, discovers in the pocket of an ancient Israeli coat.

Khandaqji’s novel was selected from 133 pieces submitted to the competition.

The jury’s chair, Nabil Suleiman, stated, “The work dissects a complex, bitter reality of family fragmentation, displacement, genocide, and racism”.

Since his imprisonment, Khandaqji has published poetry collections such as ‘Rituals of the First Time’ and ‘The Breath of a Nocturnal Poem’.

Basim Khandaqji has previously published three novels.

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