21 writers and 4 institutions from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Sudan and Morocco make up the latest batch of AFAC’s Creative and Critical Writings (CCW) grant program grantees.
Selected among 258 applications by the 2023 Creative and Critical Writings jurors - Palestinian author Maya Abu al-Hayat, Moroccan author and poet Sukaina Habiballah and Egyptian author Ahmad Nagi, the 25 projects present a wide array of genres, ranging from short stories, to critical books, graphic novels, platforms, biographies, and other creative writing outputs.
The 25 selected projects are animated by various struggles: the struggles for power, for survival during conflict, for self-discovery or re-discovery. The deeply changing socio-political landscape of the Arab region sets as backdrop for all these narratives.
Following a two-day jury meeting, the 2023 CCW jurors reached the below selection and issued the following joint statement:
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"The jury thanks all applicants to the AFAC Creative and Critical Writings grants program. We reviewed a significant number of projects, which varied between creative and critical writing. The quantity and quality of projects that linked the visual, literary and critical arts was striking, an indication of the way in which creative processes are increasingly open to the interaction of different artistic fields. The inclination toward exploring collective and spatial memory, away from excessive subjectivity, was also striking.
The diversity and quality of projects made the committee’s selection process difficult. We ended up adopting several criteria in order to sort the project: the originality and uniqueness of the submitted project, the coherence between the supporting material and the submitted project, and the feasibility of its execution. We also wanted to support initiatives and institutions whose projects aim to serve a wide number of writers and fill gaps in the literary scene. We were pleased to read through all the projects presented and their openness to different literary and artistic genres, which reflects the richness in the creative Arab scene, despite the current conditions. We send our best wishes for success to everyone."
The Creative and Critical Writings projects selected by the 2023 jurors
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An Architect's Diary at War: Critical Narratives and Madness in Edge Space by Hala Eid al-Nagui (Palestine)
The Shrine of Sheikh Abu Saree’ by Hazem Kamal Mohmed Ragab (Egypt)
sometimes I want to disappear by Hussein Fawzy (Egypt)
The Image and the Regime by Myriam Dalal (Lebanon)
Growling by Hala al-Sayyad (Egypt)
Empty Heavens by Odai al-Zoubi (Syria)
Are you Iona Bobatov? by Nour Dakarli (Syria)
Not Here, Not There by Hilal Chouman (Lebanon)
17 Minutes on the Automotrice by Basheer Amin (Syria)
Thimble by Omaima Sobhi (Egypt)
The Noble Side of Dreams by Mustafa Khalid (Sudan)
City of Dead by Shennawy (Egypt)
Writing Casablanca: Rewriting the places of the city through the literary novel by Youness Loukili (Morocco)
Hillock Whose Sky is Not Crossed by a Moon by Atif Elhaj Saeed Hamza (Sudan)
Map of Time by Aya Nabih (Egypt)
Gadolinium by Fajr Yakoub (Palestine)
Love in spite of the Regional Situation: Articles on gender intersectionalities from Cairo into the Arab Region by Weaam Mokhtar (Egypt)
How to Make a Short Story? by Ragai Moussa (Egypt)
A Mountain to Protect Me from the Water by Malak Afouneh (Palestine)
On Egyptian Nationalism and Intuitive Hegemony by Mohamed Naim (Egypt)
Theatre of Oppression, healing and rebellion: 30 years of of Independent Theatre in Egypt by Nora Amin (Egypt)
Rusted Radishes: Beirut Literary and Art Journal by Rusted Radishes (Lebanon)
Let's Talk about Money by waziz books (Egypt)
I think I saw a pigeon! by Majaz (Lebanon)
The Beit al-Tilmisani grant - Sefsafa Culture (Egypt)