The Sheikh Zayed Book Award has announced the introduction of a new category intended to celebrate the best literature in the Western world which revolves around Arabic culture.

The category, branded as "Sheikh Zayed Award for Arabic Culture in non-Arabic languages" and worth $205,000 is devised to honour best written works in Chinese, German and English languages on the subject of Arabic civilisation and culture including novels, short stories, poems, biographies, history and arts.

This announcement comes parallel to the call of nominations to the award's seventh Cycle 2012/2013.

Nominations are being accepted from authors, translators and publishers -including the newly introduced category- until September 30, a statement from an official said.

Since the appointment of its new board of trustees and advisory committee, the Abu Dhabi-based Sheikh Zayed Book Award has witnessed a number of amendments and upgrades introduced to its structure and categories with ambitions to capitalise on the momentum it gained globally over the past few years since its inception.

Last year's cycle wrapped up with a total of 560 nominations from over 25 countries contended to win the prizes across nine categories, collectively worth more than $1,905,000 million.

Over the past six years the Sheikh Zayed Book Award has recognised the literary and cultural achievements of more than 40 authors and institutions, including the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), Brill Publishing House of Holland, Novelist Wacini Laredj of France; Pedro Montavez of Spain; Ibrahim al-Kouni of Libya and Orientalist Xhong Jikun of China.

Ali Bin Tamim, secretary general of the award, also announced the purchase of one thousand copies of any winning book in each category. This initiative aims at supporting publishers and distributors on both Arab and international scale.  

Sheikh Zayed Book Award recognizes outstanding writers, intellectuals, publishers as well as young talents whose writings and translations of humanities promote Arab Culture. – TradeArabia News Service