Winners of the literary contest “A Sea of Words” 2016
7 November 2016 | Corporate news
The international jury of the literary contest “A Sea of Words” has just announced 15 authors of the best stories of the 2016 edition, which focuses thematically on the fight to end violence against women.
The 15 stories selected by an international jury will be published in a book while their authors, from Croatia, Italy, Turkey, Jordan, Poland, Tunisia, Germany, Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt and Syria, will participate between 7 and 9 November in various activities in Barcelona and Girona.
Specifically, they will attend the award ceremony of the first three prizes of the competition at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, in Barcelona on November 7. They will also take part in a literary workshop and pay a cultural visit to the city of Girona.
The first prize of the 2016 edition went to Reasons and names by Noor Hariri (Aleppo, 1989). The second and third prizes were awarded to Souha Bakhta (for And then smiled the almond tree) and the Valeria Mingolla (for Chicca is running).
The event featured the lecture “The Lasting Voice” by writer Najat El Hachmi (Nador, 1979), which reflected on oral literature as a form of resistance by women (in photography).
The winning work
Reasons and Names is a story about the death of a young teacher in a small town. It is the students of the school who recite to their substitute all the rumors about how she was murdered, at the hands of whom and why, without at any time discovering the name of either the old or the new teacher. The text thus reflects on the invisibility of women and on the prejudiced construction of her life and death.
The contest
This literary contest, organized since 2008 by the IEMed and the Anna Lindh Foundation (Egypt), is aimed at young people up to 30 years old and living in any of the 43 countries in the Euro-Mediterranean area. The prizes for the competition include the publication in a joint work of the 15 best stories and attendance at the awards ceremony in Barcelona, participation the next day in a literary workshop at the Sala Beckett in Barcelona and finally a cultural visit to Girona