The Arab Writers Union (ar.: اتحاد الكتاب العرب) is an association of Arab writers, founded in 1969, in Damascus, Syria, at the initiative of a group of Arab writers including Syrian novelist Hanna Mina. In 2008, the union was moved from Damascus to Cairo and in 2015 to Abu Dhabi.^[1] Its current president is Dr. Muhammad Al-Hourani.^[2]

In 2010, the Union published a list of the "100 Best Arabic novels," although the list in fact contained 105 entries. It ranked Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz's Cairo Trilogy as the best Arabic-language novel, followed by In Search of Walid Masoud by Jabra Ibrahim Jabra and Honor by Sonallah Ibrahim.^[3]

Controversies

On 27 January 1995, following Syrian pressure, it was announced in Damascus that the Arab Writers Union had expelled the Syrian poet Adunis, for his participation in a meeting in Spain in 1993 that was attended by Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres. This prompted widespread criticism among Arab intellectuals, with Hazem Sagieh, an editor at London-based Arabic daily Al Hayat, describing the Arab Writers Union as "remnants of a Stalinist past."^[4]

In 2007, Iraqi-German writer Najem Wali criticized the Union for its lack of solidarity with imprisoned or persecuted Arab writers and for what he described as its long-standing cooperation with the former government of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.^[5]

References