Sheikh Mubarak Abdullah Al-Mubarak

LONDON: The British-Kuwait Friendship Society held yesterday a ceremony distributing awards for the best English-language book on studies in the Middle East under sponsorship of Sheikh Mubarak Abdullah Al-Mubarak Foundation. Names of the winners of Abdullah Al-Mubarak prize were declared during the virtual ceremony and jurors lauded several books on the Middle East history.

The top award was divided by the writer Marina Rustow for her book "The Lost Archive: Traces of a Caliphate at a Cairo Synagogue" and Zeina Maasri for her book, "Cosmopolitan Radicalism: The Visual Politics of Beirut's Global Sixties." The first book was published by Princeton University Press and the second one by Cambridge University Press.

Khaled Al-Duwaisan

Khaled Al-Duwaisan, the State of Kuwait's Ambassador to the UK, lauded in a statement during the gathering the award role in boosting the Arab-British relations, particularly in the cultural and scientific realms. Managing personnel of the award are keen on holding such a contest annually due to its positive impact on the cultural relations between the UK and Kuwait, he said.

Representative of the foundation Sheikh Mubarak Abdullah Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah affirmed in remarks to the press significance of the prize for establishing bridges of understanding and rapprochement among states and promoting the dialogue among civilizations.

He has affirmed that the prize is designed to back up valuable researches in English, also indicating that such valuable books can be quite useful in the efforts to bridge the gulf and tackle misunderstanding between the Western and Arab cultures. The prize, which attracts around 50 nominations from some 20 publishers each year, is granted for the best scholarly work on the Middle East. The British-Kuwaiti Friendship Society, headed by the Kuwaiti ambassador, was established in 1996. Among the honorary heads are Sheikha Dr Suad Al-Sabah, and the British Heir Apparent Prince Charles. - KUNA