The Qatar-based Katara Cultural Village announced on October 15 the winners of 7th Katara Prize for Arabic Novel. The award ceremony was held virtually for the second year in a row, under the supervision of the Arab Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO).
Out of 1341 novels submitted, Moroccan Younes Ouali, 24, was the winner of the award in the unpublished Arabic novel category for his novel “Ahlass, Dakira alimat al mada” (Painful memory).
Other notable candidates and cowinners included Syria’s Iatidal Najib Al-Choufi, Iraq’s Waghid Al Gharb, Egypt’s Mohamed Abdellah Al-Hadi, and Tunisia’s Walid Ben Ahmed. The awards are $30,000 (MAD 271,110 ) each, and the winning entries will be printed, published, and translated into English.
In an interview with Morocco World News (MWN), Ouali discussed winning the award, and shared insights about his novel and early writing interests.
MWN: Tell us more about your academic background and how did you start writing?
I am a Law graduate and currently studying at the Specialized Institute of Applied Technology in Agadir. As for my knowledge in the field of literature, I literally got it outside the school doors. I opened my eyes to life in a small village in Midelt – the middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco – and like many villages with a shortage of books, I found in my grandmother’s stories and the newspapers dumped under the apple trees, a way to satisfy my early passion for reading.
I did not plan to become a writer, and it was not a childhood dream. My only desire was to express myself and what I felt inside, unaware that this was leading me to literature, writing and reading.
MWN: Why do you write? And what does the novel represent to you?
I wrote for myself and for my friends. Writing has always been a way to relieve myself from life pressures. Through it, I can formulate my personal view of human existence, and I chose the novel because it is the literary genre that is capable of containing all literary genres.
MWN: How was the competition?
Katara is an annual award launched by the Cultural Village Foundation. It aims to encourage and motivate creative people. I did not plan to apply for this year, so my participation came only a few days before the end of the application deadline, and maybe what motivated me the most was the state of paralysis that affected publishing books at that time (the pandemic crisis).
MWN: What does being awarded mean to you?
Being awarded means a lot to me, especially since it came after my very first novel, and it is an acknowledgment of the effort I made, and a strong push to continue what I started. It is also a victory for young creativity and an encouragement for hesitant pens to write.
MWN: Your novel sheds light on the psychological defects that afflict a person in his childhood, and the extent to which they affect his decisions throughout his life. Why did you choose to address this topic?
Approaching this subject, among other topics, came as an attempt to understand human psychology. The early years of a human’s life are a treasure trove of emotions, and his life is only an extension of what he receives in these years. Therefore, psychological defects in childhood united all the characters of my novel, but their paths in life are different.
MWN: Many Moroccans are reluctant to read for pleasure. What do you think of the relationship linking Moroccan youth to the Arabic novel?
I look at this with great optimism. In recent years, we have witnessed a growing interest in reading, an encouraging trend to which young people are greatly contributing with their own efforts. Mainly through reading associations and social media groups that work on discussing books periodically, as well as through groups that facilitate book exchanges between Moroccan readers. I think this would make a huge difference in the upcoming years.
MWN: Solitude and silence are two essential elements that accompany the novelist throughout the stages of writing. Did it take you long to write the novel? And where were you staying when you wrote it?
It took almost three years to work on the novel, and this period was not devoted to writing only but also research. After all, I am a person who neither writes excessively nor rushes it; I am rather a person who writes only when he gets inspired, just as Juan Rulfo does.
Thus, weeks, even months, would pass with me just reading and researching without writing; which helped me in the beginning to develop a comprehensive and clear vision of the novel’s structure.
MWN: Any future plans?
Honestly, today limits my answer: I don’t know. I learned to take and enjoy life moment by moment. Now, I just want to read, and we’ll see what’s going to happen in the future.
