As Sharjah celebrates its ‘Guest of honor’ status at the ongoing the LIBER International Book Fair (LIBER 2019) in Madrid, Sharjah Book Authority (SBA) organised a panel discussion on the Sharjah Translation Award ‘Turjuman’ to discuss the objectives behind the award’s entry criteria, and its vital role in promoting the Arab culture and supporting Arabic books worldwide.

Panel participants, Dr. Louis Miguel, member of the Award’s Board of Trustees and Mr. Luis Rafael Hernández, owner of Editorial Verbum SL, the publishing house which won the first edition of the award in 2018 for translating the One Thousand and One Nights spoke fondly about Sharjah’s newest efforts to promote the global translations movement by incentivising publishers.

Miguel said that ‘Turjuman’ is the world’s largest translation award. The total value of the prize is AED 1.3 million. Seventy percent of the prize will be distributed to the international publishing house which holds the translation right, while the remaining 30 percent goes to the Arab publishing house that issued the translated book.

Dr. Miguel pointed out that the criteria of the prize is primarily to protect the rights of all parties, preserve the idea and quality of the book and appreciate the author’s culture and beliefs. He stressed that Sharjah’s efforts to make sure that translated books, which are nominated for the award, reflect the truth about Arab and Islamic history and culture are extremely valuable.

He added that the award’s objectives align perfectly with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, to promote books as a cross-cultural bridge that connect different civilisations and bring them together.

Praising the Turjuman Award, Hernández said that it is a unique recognition of the efforts of authors, translators and publishers, and serves as an effective tool to motivate them to widen their global outreach.

“We applied for the award in 2017, and we did not expect to win due as competition was fierce. The award’s committee saw how much effort we put in to produce a high-quality book. The translator spent almost a decade to translate it into Spanish”, he said.

“Once the book was translated, we worked on publishing it in Latin America and other Spanish-speaking countries. The book has attracted several publishers and has been highly appreciated by Spanish language readers, who said they preferred our book over other editions they’ve read”, he added.

Hernández explained that ‘Turjuman’ will help introduce the best of ancient and modern-day Arab literature and culture to the world. “Through the award, Sharjah has offered the world a gateway to the Arab and Islamic culture, and allows the publishing world and global readership to explore in greater detail the positive impact it’s had on other civilisations,” Hernández concluded.

The Turjuman Award was launched under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, to stimulate international translations in general and from Arabic to all other languages in particular. The 2018 Turjuman has receive 50 entries from Arab and international publishers from 17 countries.