Congratulations to Tahera Qutbuddin on receiving the prestigious Sheikh Zayed Book Award in the category Arab Culture in Other Languages for her magisterial study, Arabic Oration: Art and Function (Brill 2019). As the award announcement describes it:
In this book, the author runs a comprehensive examination of oration in the Arabic language, with its unique cultural and artistic characteristics. These characteristics include influencing and engaging the audience, the use of photography, the dynamic pace, and the occasional use of religious and literary quotations. This form of communication dates back to the pre-Islam oral tradition of Arabian Peninsula tribes and has undergone several phases of transformation over time until it has taken its modern, distinctive form, earning in the process a status as a genre of Arab heritage worthy of respect in its own right. The writer's exceptional familiarity with classical Arabic literature and her firm grasp on oral tradition studies and theories have enabled her to clearly articulate the various aspects of oration: structure, style, types, and function (religious, political, intellectual, social or military).