Citing ‘a dynamic interplay between tradition and innovation,’ Dr. Ali Bin Tamim takes stock of the Zayed Award’s 20th anniversary.

By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson

See also:
Sheikh Zayed Book Award Opens for 20th Edition Nominations
Murakami, Barakat in the UAE: Sheikh Zayed Book Award
Hoda Barakat, Haruki Murakami Lead Zayed Award Winners

‘Committed to Bridging Worlds’

As we reported on June 24, the United Arab Emirates’ Sheikh Zayed Book Award now through September 1 is accepting submissions for its 20th edition, the results of which will be honored at the 2026 Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (set for April 25 to May 4).

One of the first features usually mentioned about the Zayed Award, of course, is that its purse is among the richest in the world. The winner of the Cultural Personality of the Year award is presented with a gold medal, a certificate of appreciation, and a prize of 1 million United Arab Emirates dirhams  (US$272,286). Each winner in the other categories receives a prize of  750,000 dirhams (US$204,215), along with a gold medal and a certificate of appreciation, “in honor of their outstanding creative and intellectual contributions.” All told, this is an annual allocation for awards of 7.8 million dirhams, or US$2.1 million.

Reaching far beyond the money, however, is the mission. Even beyond the glamour of this year’s ceremony, at which when Haruki Murakami joined his fellow laureates onstage as this year’s Cultural Personality, and the revered Hoda Barakat was there to accept the award in the Literature category.

And for the most part, that mission is defined by and most frequently described by Dr. Ali Bin Tamim—chair of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre and secretary general of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award. In his several capacities, he also oversees the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair and a busy program of small fairs and festivals often staged in outlying parts of the UAE to further the cause of Arabic development.

Bin Tamim—never hard to spot during the book fair as he dashes from one appointment or onstage introduction to the next—was particularly visible this year. Hosting visiting VIPs, serving as a panelist in one session and the host in another, Bin Tamim seemed to be everywhere, and in a fair that ran two days longer than it has in the past. Less known among his many positions, Bin Tamim is editor-in-chief of Al Markaz: Majallat al-Dirasat al-Arabiyya, and an online news platform called 24.ae.

He’s a gracious, quiet man in person, with a deceptively sharp grasp of the programming complexities required by the ADIBF and the Zayed and Language Center. A practiced speaker from years of appearances onstage, he can make an audience lean forward to hear him or boom out a passage with quick energy.

He greets everyone, from royal guests to journalists and schoolchildren, with a warm smile, even when clearly pressed for time by the demands of his work. And while it has taken almost two decades for the Zayed Award to field such internationally recognizable figures as Murakami and Barakat on the same stage, Bin Tamim has been a consistent presence, bolstered by the support of a trusted, watchful staff.

In our interview with Bin Tamim, we start by asking him how he—who knows this program better than anyone else—might put the prize’s 20 years into context. True to character, he doesn’t hesitate to reveal the pride he understandably takes in this program’s progress. The Zayed program is an undisputed gem now housed in the Abu Dhabi department of culture and tourism led by Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak—a symbol of the emirate’s dedication to UAE culture and linguistic heritage.

“The Sheikh Zayed Book Award,” Bin Tamim says, “has truly established itself as a mainstay in the international cultural and literary calendar, diffusing Arabic language and literature on a broader scale than ever before. Over the past two decades since its inception, the award has become one of the most dynamic forces driving global recognition of Arabic literature, thought, and scholarship.”

And since we’ve mentioned mission over money, you’ve just heard the mission: “Diffusing Arabic language and literature.”

The Zayed program is one component of many efforts in the UAE seeking to bring to the world arena this huge language spoken by an estimated 400 million people and held as an official language in almost 30 nations.

“We are immensely proud of the award’s growth,” Bin Tamim says, “which is reflected not only in the increasing volume of submissions, but also in the depth and diversity of international engagement. The 19th edition,” just concluded in April, “received more than 4,000 submissions from 75 countries—a powerful indicator of the award’s resonance across cultures, and a testament to the global appetite for Arabic intellectual and literary production.

“This fact alone shows how well received the Sheikh Zayed Book Award’s mission is internationally,” he says, “and how our work is more needed than ever before.”

“Furthermore,” Bin Tamim says, “the award has inserted many Arab authors into the global literary conversation. This momentum speaks directly to the success of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award’s mission to celebrate and elevate Arabic literature within the broader literary conversation.

“At its core, the award is committed to bridging worlds, not only by honoring established voices in the Arabic canon, but also by amplifying emerging talent that may be less familiar to global audiences. Many of our laureates had limited visibility or translation outside the region prior to receiving the Award. today, they are finding their place on the shelves of international publishers, in translation catalogues, and in the imaginations of readers around the world.

“The Sheikh Zayed Book Award” he says, “is proud to serve as a catalyst for cross-cultural literary discovery—a role that feels more vital than ever in a world seeking deeper understanding through words and ideas.”

‘A Host of Persistent Challenges’

The question of why Arabic literature—rooted in centuries of cultural, medical, and studied tradition—is less present on the world stage than other great languages is, of course, a complex one.

“Only a small fraction of Arabic literary output is translated into English each year, despite the region producing thousands of titles annually.”Dr. Ali Bin Tamim

“Arabic literature,” Bin Tamim tells his interviewer, “boasts a rich and diverse legacy dating back centuries—millennia, even—but it faces a host of persistent challenges that continue to hinder its global reach, especially in translation.

“Chief among these is the lack of institutional and market-driven mechanisms,” he says, “to support the sustained translation, distribution, and promotion of Arabic works. Unlike literature in certain other languages, for instance, Arabic titles often face insufficient visibility in major international catalogues and festivals, and limited investment from global publishers.

“Only a small fraction of Arabic literary output is translated into English each year, despite the region producing thousands of titles annually.” That, of course, is a key reason that the Zayed Award features an extensive translation grant program for all literary and children’s titles either shortlisted or won in the competition. Funding is available for translation into many world languages. The Sheikh Zayed Book Award site itself now is read online in seven languages.

“It’s also important,” Bin Tamim says, “to recognize that the underrepresentation of Arabic works on the global literary stage stems largely from multiple factors. These include a limited presence in international literary agency networks; enduring misconceptions about market demand; and practical challenges related to rights management and distribution. Focusing on these area can help ensure that Arabic literature is engaged with and celebrated for its artistic and intellectual richness.

“However,” he says, “one of the most significant—and often overlooked—barriers, in my opinion, is the relative scarcity of curated, long-term translation programs and cross-cultural literary platforms capable of promoting Arabic literature abroad. And this is an issue we’re very aware of at the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre and one that we’ve prioritized in our plans and vision to promote Arabic as a language of culture, literature, creativity, science, and knowledge.

“Several projects contribute to this,” he says, “with the most notable initiatives in that regard being the Kalima Project for Translation, launched to revitalize translation in the Arab world, and the Spotlight on Rights program, which supports the translation of literary works into and from Arabic, as well as the digitization of printed content into ebooks and audiobooks.

“And of course, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award,” Bin Tamim says, “has created new pathways to promote Arabic works by recognizing outstanding efforts in terms of translation, as well as by prioritizing the translation of shortlisted and winning titles and forming partnerships with respected publishers around the world.”

‘A Deeply Personal Engagement’

Asked what keeps him going, year after year, in this complex of interrelated outreach programs on behalf of Arabic, Bin Tamim says, “What fuels my enthusiasm is a deeply personal engagement that I have with the Arabic language and a longstanding passion for its aesthetics and its use over millennia as a means to communicate the customs, traditions, aspirations, emotions, and really the everyday lives of our communities.

“The excitement of reading books never wears off for me,” he says. “I always enjoy exploring new authors, artists, and the broader literary and cultural landscape, not just as part of my professional obligations, but for my own enjoyment as reader and writer.”

And what’s more, Bin Tamim says, his goals include looking at Arabic for ways it can be “configured to cater to new world trends, while maintaining the deep-seated cultural heritage the language carries. Essentially,” he says, “I’m driven by a love of language and an innovative vision that values innovation while safeguarding heritage—something that I believe captures the essence of what we do, as a team, at the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre.”

‘Full of Visual and Dramatic Possibilities’

During our interview, one element of our conversation turns out to be something the Zayed Award program hasn’t considered yet, and—true to form—Dr. Ali Bin Tamim catches onto it at once, with interest. We ask the award team has considered an overture to film and television producers in the same way that it has looked for linguistic translation and international publication. Particularly, as we see Frankfurter Buchmesse beginning to expand its book-to-screen programming, the momentum clearly is gathering in the direction of film and television development.

“Streaming services and film and television production more broadly,” Bin Tamim begins thinking through this point, “have truly carved out a place for themselves at the heart of the storytelling profession. They have played that role for quite a while, but the advent of streaming services has vastly expanded their influence.

“In the midst of all of this,” he says, “we have seen how screen adaptations are emerging as an effective bridge to literature, literally opening global audiences’ eyes to works they may otherwise never have encountered—works from cultures they may not be very familiar with.”

While we don’t mention it in this exchange, an example of this is the 2024 Netflix release of the Italian author Erin Doom’s Fabbricante di lacrime (The Tearsmith), published by GeMS’ Magazzini Salani, which became the first No. 1 film from Italy in the network’s international ratings and was released in at least five languages. By coincidence, Perfect Strangers, Netflix’s first Arabic-language original film was adapted from an Italian film.

“We take this into serious consideration at the Sheikh Zayed Book Award,” Bin Tamim says, “and we are conscious of the great potential that Arabic literature—and especially many of our shortlisted and winning books—could be adapted to the screen for the world to see. This is an area that we’ll certainly explore more deeply in our long-term strategic planning.

“We believe there’s tremendous and largely untapped cinematic potential within Arabic literature, with narratives that span historical epics, creative fiction, and whimsical tales,” he says. “Many of the books honored by the award are equally full of visual and dramatic possibilities.”

‘An Even More Ambitious Calendar of Events’

When we ask Bin Tamim how a program like the Sheikh Zayed Book Award might celebrate its 20th anniversary, he looks to the satisfactions of the two decades past.

Perceiving “a broader shift: Arabic writing is no longer viewed as peripheral, but increasingly as an essential part of the global literary conversation.”Dr. Ali Bin Tamim

“We’ve had the privilege to work with leading literary festivals, publishers’ associations, and prestigious academic institutions around the world,” he says, “to ensure that Arabic literature and culture remain a prominent part of international literary and cultural educational discourse. In the past, we’ve partnered with and hosted events with Casa Arabe in Spain; Institut du Monde Arabe in France; the University of Oxford in England; the Edinburgh International Literature Festival in Scotland; and Keio University in Japan, among others.

“The scope of our global programming has been significant, and as we approach our 20th anniversary, audiences can expect an even more ambitious calendar of events that deepens cross-cultural dialogue.

“Over the last two decades,” he says, “we’ve witnessed an extraordinary transformation, with both our award and the Arabic publishing industry as a whole growing from strength to strength. Today, there’s a marked interest and curiosity surrounding the Arabic literary scene on an international level, signaling a promising new chapter of global engagement and indicating that it’s poised for significant growth in the coming years in response to a higher international demand. This rising interest reflects a broader shift: Arabic writing is no longer viewed as peripheral, but increasingly as an essential part of the global literary conversation.”

Bin Tamim is not just watching the world book publishing industry’s responses but also those of the Arab world and its far-flung diaspora. “In the region,” he says, “we are increasingly seeing a dynamic interplay between tradition and innovation which is reflected in Arabic-language literary production.

“The current trend in the Arab publishing industry is to celebrate the richness of Arabic heritage while also embracing new voices and narratives that speak to contemporary and future generations. These currents are vividly reflected each year in the Sheikh Zayed Book Award’s longlists and shortlists, which showcase the full spectrum of literary and intellectual production across the Arab world. The Sheikh Zayed Book Award and the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre are uniquely positioned to lead and support this evolution.

“Abu Dhabi has emerged as a leading publishing hub in the Arab world—a place where tradition meets innovation, and where regional voices connect with international audiences. With its commitment to both preserving linguistic and literary heritage and supporting the next generation of storytellers, it’s setting a model for how the region can navigate the future of Arabic literature.

“Through strategic initiatives, funding, research, and international collaborations,” says Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, “both the Sheikh Zayed Book Award and the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre are at the forefront of shaping this literary renaissance—one rooted in cultural authenticity and oriented toward a global future, ensuring that Arabic literature will continue to thrive on the world stage.”

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More from Publishing Perspectives on the Sheikh Zayed Book Award is here, more on the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Center is here, more on Arabic literature is here, and more on translation is here. More from us on publishing and book awards in the international industry is here. 

Publishing Perspectives is the world media partner of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award.