Application Deadline: February 28, 2018

Gorgias Press is delighted to announce that the international Classical Islamic World Book Prize (CIW) is available again for 2018. Based on the decision of an internationally renowned panel of v, the CIW will recognize three exceptional early career contributions to the academic study of the classical Islamic world. In particular, the CIW will invite scholars from across the world to submit unpublished monographs that are either revised PhD theses or first Postdoctoral monographs.

The winners of the CIW will be announced in August 2018. The winning submission will be awarded an inscribed plaque, a contract to publish their monograph under Gorgias Press’ Islamic History and Thought Series, and $500 worth of Gorgias Press publications. Prizes will also be awarded to the second and third place submissions.

The panel of judges is as follows:

• Professor Dr. Maher Jarrar – American University of Beirut
• Dr. Harry Munt – University of York
• Associate Professor Dr. Ahmed El Shamsy – University of Chicago
• Assistant Professor Dr. Adam Talib – University of Durham

Submission

To enter a submission, please send the following information, in pdf format, to adam@gorgiaspress.com:

• Covering Letter: This should include your name, contact details/affiliation(s), and the names/affiliations of your supervisors, if applicable.
• Letter of Support: In a maximum of 700 words, provide an abstract of your thesis/monograph and describe what unique contribution your book makes to the field.
• References (optional): Provide up to two letters of support from supervisors, or established specialists in the field who are familiar with your book, on the originality and value of the work.
• CV
• The manuscript

The deadline for submissions will be Wednesday 28^th February 2018 (midnight). For more information about the CIW, the submission guidelines and criteria, and the judging process, please contact Gorgias Press’ Islamic Studies editor: adam@gorgiaspress.com.

The 2017 Classical Islamic World Book Prize Winners:

• 1^st Place: Manolis Ulbricht

Coranus Graecus: Die älteste überlieferte Koranübersetzung in der «Ἀνατροπὴ τοῦ Κορανίου » des Niketas von Byzanz

Manolis Ulbricht’s thesis sheds light on the oldest transmitted translation of the Qurʾān, located within the «Ἀνατροπὴ τοῦ Κορανίου» of Nicetas of Byzantium. Manolis’ study, which comprises an introduction, the text, a translation, and commentary, studies a highly important early text, showcasing a unique understanding of the Holy Qur’an during the Early Islamic period of the 2nd/ 3rd century hijri. Manolis Ulbricht is Research and Teaching Assistant to the Chair of Berlin Byzantine Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin.

• 2^nd Place: Mehmetcan Akpinar

Narrative Representations of Abū Bakr (d. 13/634) in the Second/Eighth Century

Akpinar’s book studies the emergence of Abū Bakr’s (d. 634) image as the best Muslim after the Prophet. It provides detailed analyses of the narratives expounding his outstanding qualities in sources from the 3rd/9th century and later. Through rigorous textual criticism it achieves to reconstruct the narratives’ earliest forms, which often began to circulate in the first half of the 2nd/8th century. The study then traces their subsequent evolution, and identifies various redactorial efforts that gave them their new shapes over the course of the 2nd/8th century. Mehmetcan Akpinar is a research and teaching associate at the Department of Oriental and Islamic Studies at the University of Tubingen.

• 3^rd Place: Ahmad Sukkar

Structures of Light: The Body and Architecture in Premodern Islam

The work searches non-architectural sources for insights into premodern Islamic architecture. It traces ideas about space, order, and the human body that are relevant to architecture in certain premodern and early modern philosophical texts. It focuses on a significant but unpublished seventeenth-century Arabic manuscript written by an eminent Sufi Damascene scholar. Ahmad Sukkar is currently the Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Arts and Humanities at the American University of Beirut.

More information at: gorgiaspress.com