Egypt's 'Prayer of Anxiety' Wins 2025 Int'l Prize of Arabic Fiction
Rana Atef
On Thursday, the Prayer of Anxiety by the Egyptian author Mohamed Samir Nada was announced as the winner of the 2025 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF).
The novel was named as this year's winner by Chair of Judges Mona Baker during a ceremony in Abu Dhabi.
According to the statement of the IPAF: "In the novel, storytelling is intertwined with symbolism in an unsettling narrative with multiple voices and layers. Depicting a transformative period in Egypt's history, the decade after the 1967 Naksa, the book is an interrogation of the commonly held narrative of the Naksa and subsequent Arab illusions of victory."
"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. 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. In this novel, 'Nagaa al-Manasi' is more than 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," the statement read.
Mona Baker, Chair of the 2025 Judges
The Chair of the 2025 Judges told IPAF website: "The Prayer of Anxiety is an outstandingly beautiful and intriguing novel. Referencing history, its immediate conceptualisation around the 1967 war does not make it a historical novel. The occasion of this war is cleverly used to probe the structure of political tyranny in an isolated and forgotten village in Egypt."
She added: "Coercion, manipulation, co-optation and the occlusion of meaning drive the inhabitants into submission and utter despair. Turning to organised religion for worldly redemption through a hurriedly concocted 'prayer of anxiety' offers little solace, rather brings occasion for dispute and no clear way out. 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. 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."
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