About his novel "Taghreed the Wilder"

Zahran Al Qasimi is the first Omani novelist to receive (Arabic Poker)

The novel "The Tweet of the Unbeliever" by Omani writer Zahran Al Qasimi, published by Dar Rashim, won the prize of the sixteenth session of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, (Arabic Poker), according to the head of the jury, Al-Ateb Mohammed Al-Ash'ari, during an event organized in Abu Dhabi on Sunday evening, becoming the first Omani novelist to win the International Prize for Arabic Fiction. The winning author received a cash prize of US$50,<>, a guarantee of funding for the translation of his novel into English, as well as the opportunity to promote his novel globally and increase its sales. Besides ten thousand dollars she had received for each novel that made it to the shortlist. Zaki Nusseibeh, a member of the Award's Board of Trustees, handed over the prize to the winner.

Set in an Omani village, the novel tells the story of Salem bin Abdullah, a water tracker, who is used by villages in their search for groundwater. The novel takes place in the world of the aflaj, the agricultural system of orchard irrigation, which is closely linked to the village life in Oman and around which tales and legends revolve. The author asks the reader an important question: what if this substance that gives life to beings is also a source of their death through their scarcity or flooding? The life of the wasteland since birth has been associated with water, his mother died by drowning, and his father was buried under the channel of one of the aflaj where the roof collapsed on him, and the wasteland ends up imprisoned in the channel of one of the aflaj to remain there resisting to survive.

Mohammed Al Ash'ari, Chairman of the Jury, said: "Zahran Al Qasimi's novel The Westernization of the Wilderness was chosen to win the prize because it focused on a new topic in modern fiction writing, which is the subject of water in relation to the natural environment and human life in difficult areas. The author has presented this theme to us through a constant synergy between reality and myth, and he does so through the construction of a tight narrative and transparent poetic language and by carving interesting characters who occupy an essential role in people's lives and at the same time arouse their alienation and fear. The writer was able to bring us closer to a theater that is unusual for the novel circulating in the Arab world, which is the theater of valleys and aflaj in Amman and the influence of natural elements on man's relationship with his surroundings and culture."

Yasser Suleiman, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, said: "The novel of the alienation of the wasteland originates from the belly of its Omani rural environment, which lives its life in a rhythm dominated by water with the dangers of scarcity and inexhaustible bestowal. This novel coexists with the character of the wasteland who was lifted from the womb of water, and lived his life observing his paths in the earth's fossils in a society where the myths he uses to explore his relationship with his environmental and human surroundings nest. This novel is characterized by its streamlined narrative and the flow of water with its poetic rhythm, which is characterized by sweetness and grace, carrying within it a sweet locality that coexists with the eloquence of the narrative harmoniously."