The longlisted works address important issues facing the Arab world today, from the spread of extremist organisations to the position of women. Chosen novelists are aged between 31 and 75 and hail from 11 countries, including Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen. The longlist was chosen by a panel of five judges chaired by Lebanese poet and author Chawki Bazih. Judging alongside Bazih are Mohammed Ait Hanna, a Moroccan writer, translator and lecturer of philosophy at the Regional Centre for Teaching Careers and Training in Casablanca; Safa Jubran, a lecturer of Arabic Language and Modern Literature at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil; Ali