26 March 2016
Award Winning Book al-Dawayima Village, H.E Outlines the Importance of Preserving the Historical Memory of Countries
Bahrain Book Award went to "al-Dawayima Village" by writer Hassan Abu-Sbeih. The result was announced in a ceremony by Bahrain Authority for Culture & Antiquities and in the presence of H.E Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, BACA president, H.E Mohamed Sarraj, Jordanian Ambassador, the Bahrain Book Fair Arbitration Committee and a number of intellectuals and culture lovers in Bahrain. Jordan’s ambassador received the award on behalf of writer Abu-Sbeih.
Speaking for the occasion, H.E Shaikha Mai said, “We wanted the award to be devoted this year to countries’ with historical preservation themes, because in Bahrain we aim to preserve our national heritage as well as the Arab heritage as manifested by hosting the Arab regional Center for World Heritage.” H.E pointed out that this comes in a time when cultural and historical assets are under threat in the Arab region. H.E thanked the Arbitration Committee members led by Dr. Salah Fadhel, Dr. Ali Hareb and Bahraini poet Ebrahim Bu-Hindi.
Dr. Salah Fadhel, for his part, expressed his gratitude and appreciation to H.E Shaikha for her fruitful and constructive efforts in enhancing the cultural scene in Bahrain and around the Arab world. Dr. Fadhel added that the award this year is consecrated to honoring writers from Palestine and Jordan and that the theme selected this year is “Archaeological Awareness and Memory of Countries”, given the importance of collective memories of countries in its preservation.
Dr. Fadhel explained that the reasons behind selecting the winning book al-Dawayima Village can be summarized by arguing that, “The book writer used modern techniques to document and gather information about a good example of a Palestinian village destroyed by Israeli occupation during al-Nakbah ( Catastrophe) of 1948”. Dr. Fadhel added, “The book is exceptionally overloaded with a fresh scientific approach based on tracing the historical roots of al-Dawayima Village since the Ottoman era. In addition, the capacity of the writer to determine the geographical location of this village revealing the material and human terminology components of the village based on books and previous maps was exceptional.”
The Bahrain Book Fair Award Committee has received valuable participation since the start, but the selection went to one of the most exceptional literary works. The theme of the award corresponds to the obsessive creative mind of researchers in Jordan and Palestine and their passion for documenting their ancestral land and the many undiscovered treasures.
During the award delivering ceremony, the next edition of the Bahrain Book Fair was announced nominating Algeria as the selected country and the theme will be “Literature and the Formation of the World”.
