Arabic Booker Prize

Of course, I am against literary prizes and ranking especially if the prize is 1) funded and sponsored by an Arab prince or cheikh; 2) if the director of the prize is a Lebanese woman who admits that she is ignorant of the Arabic literary heritage; 3) if the committee members are selected purely for political reasons (the crude and vulgar sectarian Syrian cartoonist, `Ali Farzat, was a member); 4) if the prize is imported from the West. Such is the case of the Arabic Booker Prize. Here, a member of the judges admits that he only read a few pages of some of the books entered in the competition because after a few pages he was able to tell that they books were "silly". Kid you not.