New Additions to IPAF Board of Trustees

The IPAF board of Trustees has recently gained three new members. Isobel Abulhoul OBE, Mohammed Rashad and Amina Hachimi Alaoui will all contribute to the overall management of the prize, which was established in 2008.

Isobel Abulhoul OBE is the Director of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature in Dubai, whilst Mohammed Rashad is Director of Cairo-based publishing houses Al-Dar Al-Masriah Al-Lubnaniah and Maktabet Al-Dar Al-Arabia Lel-Ketab. Finally, Amina Hachimi Alaoui from Morocco is the founder of two libraries and Director of Yanbow Al Kitab publishing house, which specialises in literature for children and young people.

The three join an independent Board of Trustees comprised of an international mix of writers, experts in Arabic literature and translation, and figures from the world of books, publishing, media and academia, including: Nujoom Alghanem, poet, writer and award-winning UAE filmmaker; Jonathan Taylor CBE was the founding chair of the Booker Prize Foundation and also of the Caine Prize for African Writing, UK; author and journalist Ahdaf Soueif and Margaret Obank, Publisher and Editor of Banipal Magazine of Modern Arab Literature, UK.

Each year, the Board of Trustees selects a panel of judges for the prize from amongst literary critics, writers and academics from the Arab world and beyond. The judges for the 2015 prize will be announced next spring, at the same time as the 2015 shortlist.