KUWAIT: The “Prix de la litterature arabe” (Arabic literature award) was established in France in 2013, in partnership between Jean-Luc Lagardere and the Arab World Institute. It is one of the rare French prizes that distinguishes and appreciates Arab creativity that is translated into French.

This year’s novels focused on the huge wealth of Arab literature and the clear excellence the Arab novel has reached in a group of Arab countries including Kuwait, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. The novels’ subjects are varied, covering various Arab issues that were distinguished by French translations that were well received by French readers, including Kuwaiti writer Taleb Al-Refae’s novel “Kidnapping the Loved One”, whose title the translator and publishing house decided should be “Gates of Paradise” in French.

Refae said the novel was published by 14 Arab publishers in one week in most Arab capitals. The novel speaks about the situation of a Kuwaiti millionaire Yaqoub, who living divided between the decline of his relationship with his wife Sheikha and being attracted to an Iranian girl Fernaz who is employed in his company, and finally his attachment to his son Ahmad, who left Kuwait to become a fighter with Islamist groups in Syria.