Egyptian novelist Mohamed Samir Nada has won the 2025 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for The Prayer of Anxiety.

Nada was awarded the $50,000 prize for his poetic third novel at a ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. The prize comes with additional funding for an English translation.

It is the first time an Egyptian has triumphed in the competition since 2009, when Youssef Ziedan won for his novel Azazeel.

Published by Masciliana, The Prayer of Anxiety is set in an isolated village in Upper Egypt where residents believe they are surrounded by a minefield. They do not know much about the wider world except that a war with Israel has been raging for a decade and their village may be the first line of defence keeping the enemy from entering Egypt.

In an interview with Ipaf website, Nada describes the novel’s writing process as instructive. “The idea for the novel came to me at the end of 2017," he says. "It began as a poem, before becoming a short novel and then a weighty novel, which I returned to and shaved off passages until it finally took its published form.

“The anxiety pervading its characters was also present in the text itself, as it shifted between genres and expressive forms. So my journey with the novel was in essence a learning curve, which I began with poetry and where I would remind myself of the saying of [eighth century Iraqi writer and academic] Al-Jahiz in which he stated, ‘There is no good in speech which does not express your meaning.’”

Egyptian-British academic and translator Mona Baker, chairwoman of this year's Ipaf judging panel, hailed the work for posing some unsettling questions to readers.

“The Prayer of Anxiety won because it successfully transforms anxiety into an aesthetic and intellectual experience that resonates with the reader and awakens them to pressing existential questions,” she says.

“Mohamed Samir Nada blends polyphony and symbolism with captivating poetic language, making reading a sensory experience where revelation intersects with silence, and truth with illusion. This novel is more than about just a village in Upper Egypt, it becomes a metaphor for societies besieged by fear and authoritarianism, giving the novel dimensions that transcend geography and touch upon universal human themes.”

Prof Yasir Suleiman, chairman of the award's board of trustees, calls it a future classic of contemporary Arabic literature. “Enchanted by the elegant writing and the deft structure of the novel, the reader is drawn into a dystopian microcosm with polyphonous meanings that adroitly captures one until the end,” he says.

“Crafted with considerable virtuosity and narrative acumen, The Prayer of Anxiety is engaging and thought-provoking. It is destined to become a classic in the Arab literary scene in years to come.”

Born in Iraq before moving to Tripoli, and later settling in Cairo, Nada’s career is as varied as his literary voice. While working in the tourism sector and currently serving as a financial director in Cairo, he has written novels and contributed cultural commentary to Egyptian newspapers. His previous books include 2016’s Malika’s Kingdom and 2021’s The Confession of the Walls.

Nada emerged from a dynamic shortlist that included Emirati writer Nadia Najar’s The Touch of Light, a novel that delves into various aspects of the region’s past, including the history of Dubai before the discovery of oil. Mauritanian novelist Ahmed Fal Al Din was also on the shortlist for Danshmand, which reimagines the life of the 12th century imam and scholar Abu Hamid Al Ghazali, as was The Valley of the Butterflies by Iraqi writer Azher Jirjees, which looks at Baghdad’s development over the past two decades through a mix of fantasy, drama and comedy.

All shortlisted novels were awarded $10,000. Nada and shortlisted authors can be expected to appear in sessions at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair, taking place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from Saturday until May 6.