Banned Kuwaiti Novel Takes Top Prize at Sharjah Book Fair

Author Abdullah al-Busais appeared happy to win the prize. Congratulations! (Twitter / faseeh_club)

With an ear, perhaps, tuned towards the Streisand Effect, the Sharjah Book Fair has given Abdullah al-Busais’s The Taste of the Wolf (“Ta’em el-Thie’b”) its coveted Best Arabic Novel Award.

To win, a book must be deemed “new and unique in its field.”

The novel—banned, ostensibly, for its use of the word “pee”—was well-received, though not an International Prize for Arabic Fiction nominee.

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