RAMALLAH, March 13, 2017 (WAFA) – Three people – a Palestinian, an Arab and an international – were announced as winners of the 2017 Mahmoud Darwish Prize during ceremonies held at Mahmoud Darwish Museum in Ramallah on Monday.

Ziad Abu Amr, chairman of the board of Mahmoud Darwish Institute, announced the winners who included Maher Sharif, a leftist Palestinian historian, Salwa Baker, an Egyptian novelist and critic, and Suzanna Arundhati Roy, an Indian writer and activist.

Sharif was born in Damascus in 1950 to a Palestinian father and a Syrian mother. He has several publications related to the history of Palestine and political movements in the Arab world.

Baker was born in Cairo in 1949. She was previously arrested for her political views and has several novels about her experience in jail and others.

Roy was born in 1961 in India and had previously won several prizes for her work that included The God of Small Things.

None of the winners were present in Ramallah to receive their prizes, which will be later delivered to them.

M.K.