TEHRAN – The office of the Palestinian World Literature Awards has published a call for entry for the third edition, Mehr reported Tuesday.
Founded in 2018 as a non-governmental initiative, this prestigious award aims to recognize literary works related to Palestine and is held every two years in collaboration with cultural and literary unions and various associations in Islamic countries.
The 2026 edition of the award aims to showcase and celebrate literary books published around the world focused on Palestine, honoring writers, poets and publishers who defend the oppressed Palestinians through their works.
Part of the call emphasizes the enduring struggle for freedom. “The awakened conscience of freedom lovers around the world witnesses heroic resistance of the Palestinian nation, particularly the immoral sightings of the Gaza people over the past 80 years. Today, more than ever, free people around the world are concerned about the Palestinian people.”
The Palestinian World Literature Prize was established to commemorate the martyrs of the Palestinian struggle and to support the Palestinian people against the atrocities and genocides committed by the Israeli regime.
The award aims to identify and promote the best literary works written about Palestinian themes, their people’s resilience, and crimes committed against them. We invite authors, poets and publishers around the world to support Palestine and participate in this cultural and literary movement, celebrating the memories of countless innocent victims, including women and children.
Eligible works will be released between 2023 and 2026 and can be submitted in a variety of categories, including children’s stories, short stories, novels, memoirs, published plays, and more. The total prize money will be $120,000.
Interested participants must submit scanned texts of the works in multiple languages, including Persian, Arabic, English, French, Russian, Malay, Urdu, Turkish, Spanish and Chinese. Submissions will be made by the end of May 2026 via the awards’ official website www.palintaward.com or sent to the Tehran or Beirut Awards Secretariat.
A summary of the book must also be provided in English or Arabic at the time of registration. The closing ceremony and announcement of the second International Palestinian Literature Award will be held in 2026, with the exact date and location announced on the award’s official platform.
The Palestinian World Literature Award was founded in Iran in 2018 by the collective decisions of cultural organizations, writers’ associations and publications from various countries. This biennial award aims to recognize the best published work on Palestine. The first edition of the award took place in Beirut in 2022, followed by the second edition, which took place in Tehran in 2024.
sab/