XOFRAN EL-RADİ

Baghdad – Author Ghaid Al Gharb wins the Katara Prize for Arabic Novels in the unpublished novel category for her novel “Sukrat: Psalms of Blood.”

Ghaid Al Gharb (34), an author, translator and academic, began to write stories at the age of 10. Books are the center of her life, “I have a linguistic and objective perspective and I offer this perspective in my books. I love poems but when I write a novel, I feel like a bird. I can fly to the sky.”

She changes her dream world

Stating that she tries to write down about political and social issues in her novels as much as she can, Ghaid Al Gharb also writes the stories of women in her novels.  Her first novel “The Envoys” is about women affected by war. “I write about everything. My first book “The Envoys” is a living example of my liberation from all societal taboos in writing,” said Ghaid Al Gharb, who believes that women play an important role in every sphere of life. “Women are often active in every sphere of life, they are leaders and coordinators. Today’s women are different now. They speak out; demand their rights and are more effective.”

“There is no difference between men and women”

Indicating that there is no difference between male and female authors, Ghaid Al Gharb said, “We all control the characters in our books.” Ghaid Al Gharb also talked about her novel “Sukrat: Psalms of Blood”, “This novel is based on true stories. I used my imagination to create a world in which I can control the characters.” Her book Sukrat: Psalms of Blood tells the story of a woman in the First World War (1914-1918). “I spent three years to write this novel. I read many books, articles and personal diaries and did research. I talked to an old woman, whose family had faced difficulties in the First World War.”

Ghaid Al Gharb is very happy to win the Katara Prize for Arabic Novels in the unpublished novels category, “I am happy to make my voice heard in the Arab world thanks to this prize.”

The Katara Prize for Arabic Novel is an Arabic literary prize based in Qatar. It was established in 2014 by the Katara Cultural Village. The total prize pool is $650,000 and the main prize $200,000. One of its sponsors is UNESCO. The winning novels will be translated into five languages.