International Association for the Study of Arabia (IASA) Diversity of Oman’s Dhofar Region, Gilgamesh Publishing ISBN: 9781908531858 van Roode, S. M., 2020 Silver & Frankincense. Scent and personal adornment in the Arab World, Blikveld Uitgevers Publishers ISBN 9789492940018 Vogler-Fiesser, G., Al Mahri, M H., 2020. Dhofar's Nomads: How Oman's Renaissance Changed A Lifestyle Forever: Gilgamesh Publishing ISBN 978-1908531735
Wakefield, S. (ed.) 2020. Cultural Heritage, Transnational Narratives and Museum Franchising in Abu Dhabi, Routledge ISBN 9781138088221 Wakefield, S. (ed.) 2020. Museums of the Arabian Peninsula Historical Developments and Contemporary Discourses, Routledge ISBN 9780367148447 Ziolkowski, M. C., Fujairah's Date Palm Gardens: a preliminary survey, published by H.H Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Sharqi ISBN 9789948359531
AWARDS AND PRIZES Aga Khan Award for Architecture The Aga Khan Award for Architecture is given every three years to projects that set new standards of excellence in architecture, planning practices, historic preservation and landscape architecture. Through its efforts, the Award seeks to identify and encourage building concepts that successfully address the needs and aspirations of societies across the world, in which Muslims have a significant presence. The Award seeks nominations that represent the broadest possible range of architectural interventions, but for the 15th cycle (2020-2022), it encourages the submission of projects in rural landscapes, urban peripheries and those that deal with public space at all scales. To be eligible for consideration in the 2022 Award cycle, projects must be completed between 1 January 2015 and 31 December 2020 and should have been in use for at least one full year. The identification and nomination of projects is now ongoing, the deadline for this phase is 15 September 2021. More information here: https://www.akdn.org/ architecture
The American Institute for Yemeni Studies The American Institute for Yemeni Studies annually holds two competitions for fellowship programs supporting research on Yemen, funded by grants from the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. The Yemeni researchers awarded the fellowship grants for 2020 met in the AIYS office, under the direction of the Resident Director Dr. Salwa Dammaj, to give their presentations. The grantees included Mr. Ahmed al-Gabali who presented his research on "Sufism in Yemen: Its Social and Political Impacts”, Dr. Amna Al-Nasiri, professor of Philosophy at Sana'a University and a very well-known Yemeni painter who talked about her research “Change in Arabic Public Art during and after the Arab Spring: The Examples of Graffiti in Yemen” and Anwar Hayir, a researcher interested in antiquities, explained his research titled “Ancient 50
Inscriptions in the Area of Bani Dubyan.” For the other award recipients and more information, visit https://www. aiys.org/fellowships-2020.
British-Kuwait Friendship Society Book Prize The British-Kuwait Friendship Society Book Prize was founded thanks to an endowment of the Abdullah AlMubarak Al-Sabah Foundation. The prize attracts around 50 nominations from some 20 publishers each year. The prize is awarded for the best scholarly work on the Middle East. Normally the chronological remit of the prize will be from the rise of Islam until the present day, but outstanding scholarly entries from the pre-Islamic era may also be considered. The 2020 winner was Electric News in Colonial Algeria by Arthur Asseraf (Oxford University Press). Electric News examines a range of sources in multiple languages across colonial society and offers a new understanding of the spread of news. New technologies such as the printing press, telegraph, cinema and radio interacted with older media like songs, rumours, letters and manuscripts with the French government watching anxiously and monitoring Algerians’ reactions. The French surveillance network often ended up spreading rather than controlling the flow of news. Electric News helps us reconsider the relationship between time, media and historical change. The runners up were Modern Things On Trial: Islam’s Global and Material Reformation in the Age of Rida, 1865-1935 by Leor Halevi (Columbia University Press) and Friends of the Emir: Non-Muslim State Officials in Premodern Islamic Thought by Luke B. Yarborough (Cambridge University Press). https://www.bkfsprize.com/
The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) The International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) is the most prestigious and important literary prize in the Arab world. Its aim is to reward excellence in contemporary Arabic creative writing and to encourage the readership of high quality Arabic literature internationally through the