Member of NYUAD Community Wins Sheikh Zayed Book Award

A member of the NYUAD community has won a 2013 Sheikh Zayed Book Award. Marina Warner, who taught an NYUAD January Term course during her time as a visiting professor of Literature and works with the University's Library of Arabic Literature, won the Arab Culture in Non-Arabic Languages category for her book, Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights.

Established in 2007 in the memory of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, late ruler of Abu Dhabi and President of the UAE, the award is presented each year to outstanding writers, intellectuals, and publishers whose work has enriched Arab cultural, literary, and social life.

Warner, a fellow of the British Academy who currently works as a professor of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies at the University of Essex, is a distinguished cultural historian. Her winning book is described as the telling of the story of Arabian Nights from a new and, until recently, little understood angle.

The seven award recipients, from countries including Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, and the UK, will share the AED 7 million winnings and be honored on April 28 in an award's ceremony in Abu Dhabi.