Caption1: Nidaa Khoury, author of Book of Sins. (© HNP photo)
The longlist for the Warwick Prize for Writing 2013, includes 12 writers competing for the biennial award worth £25,000, according to the Bristish newspaper The Telegraph.
"I’m happy to share the news with readers and fans that a book published in St. Martin, Book of Sins by Nidaa Khoury, has just been nominated for the coveted Warwick Prize for Writing," said Jacqueline Sample of House of Nehesi Publishers (HNP).
According to Reuters, the prize is "an international, cross-disciplinary award to recognise excellence in the English language in any genre or form."
Book of Sins is the first full English translation of poetry by the Palestinian/Israeli poet. The original Arabic and Hebrew translation are in the same book.
"HNP published the fine poetry of Ms. Khoury in 2011, in ways introducing her to the Caribbean and the Americas. Book of Sins became the first book by an important Middle Eastern author to be published in the Caribbean," said Sample.
The Warwick Prize list of 12 titles pits novelists and poets against non-fiction authors including a theoretical physicist and an academic psychologist. The themes range from the Australian war effort in France to opium sellers in 19th century India, stated Reuters.
"We have here books in every genre, from all around the world. The only difficulty now will be choosing a winner from among them," said one of three judges, Ian Sansom, from Britain’s University of Warwick, which founded the prize.
"HNP is very happy for Nidaa Khoury and for St. Martin. Congratulations to the other authors as well. A nomination for a major award such as the Warwick Prize is for winners. It also helps HNP to introduce Book of Sins to new worlds of readers," said Sample. Book of Sins is available at Van Dorp bookstore, Amazon.com, and SPDbooks.org.
The Warwick Prize fiction nominees are British writer Julian Barnes and USA writers Amy Espeseth and Jonathan Franzen. India’s Amitav Ghosh, Australian Booker-prize winner Thomas Keneally, and Israeli author Etgar Keret were also nominated.
The non-fiction and poetry nominees are Iraqi-born theoretical physicist Jim Al-Khalili, Canadian Cordelia Fine, British travel writer Robert Macfarlane, Palestinian poet Nidaa Khoury, and Britain’s T.S. Eliot prize winner Alice Oswald.
HNP is the only Caribbean publisher among the group of publishers such as Penguin and Faber and Faber whose books were longlisted. The shortlist will be announced in August and the winner in late September. In addition to the monetary award, the winner will receive a short placement at the University of Warwick.