The Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation

ANNOUNCEMENT

Transition of the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize
for Arabic Literary Translation
to SOAS from the Banipal Trust

The transition of the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, from the 2026 prize onwards, was announced on 13 February 2025 at the SOAS Gallery Lecture Theatre by Margaret Obank, representing the Banipal Trust and Professor Wen-chin Ouyang, representing SOAS University of London. The Lecture Theatre was the venue for the London celebration of the 20th year prizewinner Marilyn Booth and the annual lecture given by Boyd Tonkin.

Margaret read a statement on behalf of the Chair of the Banipal Trust, Professor Paul Starkey, who was unable to be present due to illness, and of herself as founder of the Trust. She said:  

"Tonight, as the celebration of the 20th year of the prize comes to an end, we can announce that, with the agreement of all parties concerned, responsibility for the future management of the prize and lecture is being passed from the Banipal Trust to SOAS.

"For twenty years, the responsibility for managing the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation has rested with the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature. And for the last ten years the Trust has also arranged the Prize’s Annual Lecture on Arabic Literary Translation.

"Several Trustees have already served for well beyond their normal term (some even from the beginning!), and in December 2022 Banipal Magazine – with which the prize has always been closely associated – had closed. As we approached this twentieth anniversary the Trustees felt it was time to think about how best to ensure that we could continue the prize’s legacy for future generations of authors, translators and readers.

"The founders and sponsors of the prize – Banipal Magazine, the Banipal Trust and the family of Saif Ghobash – are united in their total commitment to the continuation of this unique prize that is dedicated to the support and encouragement of literary translation from Arabic. Likewise, the Society of Authors, who have administered the entries and awards of the prize since the beginning, as well as of all the other UK literary translation prizes into English, value the prize’s continuation extremely highly.

"The Trust, the Society of Authors, and the family of Saif Ghobash who so generously sponsor the prize and lecture are all confident that in the hands of Prof Wen-chin Ouyang and her colleagues, the prize will continue to extend its reputation and its wide reach into the world of literary publishers, translators and authors, while celebrating the wonderful diversity of contemporary Arabic literature in English translation. We wish them well and look forward to many more celebrations over the coming years."

Prof Wen-chin Ouyang, Professor of Arabic and Comparative. Literature at SOAS, then spoke on behalf of SOAS, saying: 

"SOAS and the Banipal Trust have been friends and allies since my arrival in London and Banipal's founding in 1998. I have translated for Banipal Magazine of Modern Arab Literaure, in fact I have a complete set of the magazine in my office. I have judged the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation, I have chaired events they have organised around the city of London, I have even served as impromptu translator for, for example, Adonis.

"But my contribution to the work of the Banipal Trust, including the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize, pales by comparison with what Margaret and Samuel [Shimon] have achieved in terms of the promotion of Arabic literature through translation.  It has not only made modern Arabic literature more widely known in the English-speaking world(s), but also offered opportunities for my students to engage with Arabic litreature and authors outside the confines of academic campuses, programmes and curricula, and dirty their hands in rendering Arabic literary works into English. The chairs of judging panels, and judges, this year and 2011, Professor Tina Phillips, in 2022 Dr Charis Olszok, and in 2018 Dr Sophia Vasalou, are all SOAS graduates. The life and work of Arabic literature at SOAS and of Banipal Trust have been in the past 28 years inextricably entangled. 

"It makes sense then for SOAS to be the new home for the Prize now that Margaret and Samuel and the Banipal Trust have decided to hand the baton to an institution committed to Arabic literature and public engagement. I am extremely honoured that I am being entrusted and trusted with the future of the prize. I make a pledge to them all that I will work closely with the Saif Ghobash family, who generously fund the Prize, and with a new generation of lovers of Arabic literature and translators, to keep the flame they started going, and to ensure that their legacy continues."

The audience celebrating the 20 years of the prize, the annual lecture and its transition to SOAS included many friends and supporters, including from the 2025 judging panel, the evening’s lecturer Boyd Tonkin, chair Prof Tina Phillips and Dr Susan Frenk, also Hanan Al-Shaykh, who gave the 2019 lecture, and judges from the early years of the prize. In her introduction to the evening, Margaret spoke about the prize being the first in the world for published literary translation from Arabic to English and how it worked wonderfully to make a more level playing field for the reception of contemporary Arabic literature in the West. She paid tribute to the support the prize received in those very early days and that continues today, especially from prize judges. She mentioned in particular Maya Jaggi in the audience who had served alongside the late Moris Farhi for the first two years with the Trust's president Prof Roger Allen who had pioneered the teaching of contemporary Arabic literature in universities and who would be watching online from Philadelphia – he served for the first four years. Also present was Aamer Hussein and the 2025 prizewinner Marilyn Booth, who both served for the two years 2008 and 2009.

In a message to the audience about the transition of the prize to SOAS, Banipal Trust chair Prof Paul Starkey said he was delighted that SOAS had agreed to take on the management of the prize. "I am confident", he went on, "that Wen-chin and her team will do an excellent job and I offer them my best wishes. And I take this opportunity to thank all those who have served on the Trust over the last twenty years or so. It has been a privilege to chair it."

On 11 February, SOAS posted on their website the news of the transition under the headline: SOAS to host prestigious Arabic literary prize. It included brief statements from the Banipal Trust, Prof Wen-chin Ouyang and the Saif Ghobash family.

Maysoune Ghobash, for the family, said: “The Saif Ghobash family would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to the Banipal Trust for its stewardship and dedication over the last 20 years. Our father Saif’s memory, and his love for literature are never forgotten. As a family, we think of him daily, of his love of books and his genuine delight in culture and conversation. Coming together to celebrate translators and authors feels especially meaningful and keeps alive the values our father held so dear. The family is delighted to continue this legacy under SOAS, University of London, and we look forward to supporting the prize as it enters its next chapter with the same passion and commitment to Arabic literary translation.”  

We are all looking forward to this new future for the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize as it goes into its next decades, with its legacy ensured, and ready to celebrate the increasing numbers of translations of contemporary Arabic literature.   

Click on the image to watch a YouTube video
of the 20 years of the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize

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Twenty years of awarding English translations of contemporary Arabic literature: this is what we have celebrated with the 2025 Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize. Literary translation from Arabic every year since 2006, with the 2013 and 2022 prizes both awarding joint winners.

The prize is an annual award with a prize fund of £4,000, made to the translators of published translations in English of full-length imaginative and creative Arabic works of literary merit published after, or during, the year 1967 and first published in English translation in the year prior to the award. It was the first prize in the world for a published translation from Arabic to English. The 2025 prize was the twentieth year of the judging panels reading the entries, discussing and selecting the winners. Over the period between 2006 and 2025, 72 judges joined the panels, and selected 61 works as commended, runners-up, shortlisted and winning. By the time the 2025 winner was announced publicly on 7 January 2026, there were twenty-two winners (joint winners in 2013 and 2022). From the 2025 prize an annual runner-up will be selected from the shortlist in addition to the winner, with the winner receiving £3,000 and the runner-up £1,000.

The 2025 prize was the twentieth year of raising the profile of contemporary Arabic literature by honouring the skill of individual translators in bringing the published work of established and emerging Arab writers to the attention of the wider world. The prize was established by Banipal, the magazine of modern Arab literature in English translation, and the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature. The inaugural prize was awarded on 9 October 2006 to the late Humphrey Davies for the novel Gate of the Sun by the late Elias Khoury.

The Banipal Trust and the Ghobash family who sponsor the prize rganised a few extra activities to mark the twenty years of judging and awarding translations of contemporary Arabic literature and bringing these diverse creative works of fiction and poetry from around the Arab world into dialogue with anglophone readers. 

The first activity was a Zoom Webinar on 19 November 2025, 6.00-7.30pm GMT.  It was free to join and everyone was welcome. A link to the video recording will be available soon. The main celebration was held in Dubai in late January 2026, in collaboration with the 2026 Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. Guests attended a Celebratory Dinner on 20 January with winning translators, authors, supporters and friends of the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize.  Some of the translators joined panels at the Festival, which opened for all on 21 January. Click here for details of these panels. 

A brief history of the winners of the prize from 2006 to 2025 can be seen on this  video on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VX8PEJRv8Ro  The video covers the years of awards from the inaugural year 2006, to the 20th year of the 2025 prize. It runs through the years from the first award, showing the winning translator and book, and any commended or runners-up. In 2016 the prize begins an annual lecture on some aspect of Arabic literary translation, and so there are images of the each year’s lecturer and title of their talk. 

We have collected together an illustrated record of the 20 years of the prize into a booklet. You can download a PDF of the booklet  here or by clicking on the image of the front page. 

The prize is administered by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom, alongside all other UK prizes for literary translation from many global languages that include Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish, as well as the TA First Translation Prize for debut translation into English from any language, and the recently established John Calder Translation Prize, which is for a full-length ambitious, groundbreaking work of literary merit and general interest translated into English from any language. All are administered by the Society of Authors and awarded annually at a joint ceremony hosted by the Society.

Most of the 17 entries to the 2025 prize can be purchased from Bookshop.org

When the prize first started, the original cut-off point for the original Arabic publication was 35 years. As the years went by and as interest in literature from the Arab world increased since the establishment of the prize in 2005, in 2013 the Trust became concerned that the cut-off point would prevent translations of important authors being entered for the only prize in the world for published Arabic literary translation.

After much discussion the Trustees decided to extend the original Arabic publication date to after, or during, the year 1967, widely recognised as a "watershed" year for Arabic literature. "The date of 1967 . . . one of those historical watersheds that not only divide one historical period from another but also call radically into question the very principles by which literary historical periods and thereby the relationships between present and past, are established in the first place" – Roger Allen, in Intertextuality in Modern Arabic Literature since 1967. The change in entry requirements started from the 2014 prize.

In 2017 it was decided to introduce a shortlist instead of having "commended", "highly commended" or "runner-up". It is announced on 1 December each year. 

The runner-up and the winner are announced on 7 or 8 January each year. 

Entries for the prize can be submitted only between 1 January and 31 March each year. The publication dates of entries must be between 1 April of the previous prize year and 31 March of the current prize year. For full rules and conditions click here. 

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The Society of Authors is the administrator of the prize. Founded in 1884 "to protect the rights and further the interests of authors", it has over 7,500 members. Its first president was Alfred Lord Tennyson. Among its members have been many prominent writers, including George Bernard Shaw, John Galsworthy, Thomas Hardy, H G Wells, J M Barrie, John Masefield, E M Forster, A P Herbert, and countless contemporary writers. 

The other literary translation prizes administered by the Society in addition to the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize are:

• John Florio Prize for Italian Translation (biennial)
• Goethe-Institut Award (biennial)
• Schlegel-Tieck Prize for German Translation (annual)
• Scott Moncrieff Prize for French Translation (annual)
• Bernard Shaw Prize for Swedish Translation (triennial)
• Premio Valle Inclán for Spanish Translation (annual)
• The TA (Translators Association) First Translation Prize from any language (annual)
• The TLS-Risa Domb/Porjes Prize for Hebrew Translation (triennial)
• Vondel Prize for Dutch Translation (biennial)
• Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Translation Prize (Japanese, started in 2023)
  
• The John Calder Translation Prize from any language (starting in 2025)