2012 Arab American Book Award Winners to be Honored at Dearborn Ceremony, Sept 29
Groundbreaking theory, compelling prose and powerful storytelling are all represented in the winning titles of the 2012 Arab American Book Award, presented by the Arab American National Museum.
This year, the Arab American Book Award ceremony will be held on Saturday, September 29 at the Arab American National Museum, 13624 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, Michigan. Further details on the invitation-only event will be released this summer.
In addition to celebrating the winners of the 2012 Awards, this year’s program will honor the life and work of journalist Anthony Shadid. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist of Lebanese American descent, known globally for his intrepid reporting and incisive on-the-ground coverage of stories across the Middle East, died while on the job earlier this year. At the 2012 Book Award ceremony, Shadid will be remembered with a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award.
This national literary competition, the only one of its kind in the U.S., is designed to draw attention to books and authors dealing with the Arab American experience. The program has attracted increasing numbers of submissions in its brief history.
Three winners emerged from the multitude of eligible books submitted for consideration; three honorable mentions were also selected, all by genre-specific review committees:
Winner – Fiction
Birds of Paradise by Diana Abu-Jaber
Winner – Evelyn Shakir Non-Fiction Award
Arab & Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence, & Belonging edited by Rabab Abdulhadi, Evelyn Alsultany and Nadine Naber
Winner – Poetry
Abu Ghraib Arias by Philip Metres
Honorable Mention – Fiction
Anatomy of a Disappearance by Hisham Matar
Honorable Mention – Non-Fiction
Modern Arab American Fiction: A Reader’s Guide edited by Steven Salaita
Honorable Mention – Poetry
Transfer by Naomi Shihab Nye
The Arab American Book Award program encourages the publication and excellence of books that preserve and advance the understanding, knowledge and resources of the Arab American community by celebrating the thoughts and lives of Arab Americans. The purpose of the Award is to inspire authors, educate readers and foster a respect and understanding of the Arab American culture.