The novel “Ettalyeni” (the Italian) of the academic, linguist and former dean of the Faculty of Manouba, Chokri Mabkhout was nominated finalist of the International Arab Fiction Prize “Booker 2015”, during a press conference held on February 13 on the sidelines of the book fair in Morocco.
The novel has been selected, as well as five others to win the prize for the largest Arab competition and will therefore be the only Tunisian representative among six Arab nationalities: a Sudanese, a Moroccan, a Lebanese, a Palestinian and a Syrian.
The winner will be unveiled on May 6 on the eve of the International Book Fair to be held in Abu Dhabi from May 7 to 13, 2015.
“Ettalyeni” is the first novel by Chokri Mabkhout, which transcribed, in a fictionalized way, a historical period of Tunisia during the 80s in the Tunisian University until 1990, the year of the burial of the father of Abdennaceur, alias “Etalyeni”, main character of the novel.
Nawel Bizid
