23/09/2019
We are delighted to announce the winner of The 2019 Büro BDP Writing Prize: Dani Arbid!
(Thanks to everyone who make it out to our award ceremony party and to Karl Holmqvist for presenting the trophy, to this year's judges and to Adam Fearon of Babes Bar. Babes has supported and sponsored the prize, also to Form und Konzept Grafikdesign Studio for all their amazing work. Lastly thanks to all who entered the prize - there was so much outstanding work from across the continent we were overwhelmed! Copies of the Journal are still available.)
About Dani:
Born in London, raised in Abu Dhabi. I am a writer, filmmaker and entrepreneur. I graduated from the American University of Beirut in 2011 with a degree in Political Science. Since then I have worked primarily as a writer, photographer and videographer, freelancing on projects in Istanbul, Beirut and Berlin. As of 2018 I founded Barakunan GmbH, a publishing and media start up conceived in Beirut and launched in Berlin. Originally inspired as an intellectual property franchise of a fictional Extended Universe- Barakunan has diversified into a multi-channel platform in multimedia and text. Our keystone work, The Stranger, the Story of Sister Sarah Shamlan, is one of two books in circulation in print. I penned the novel under the name Zahreddine- a pseudonym I use for Barakunan. A mystical futurist novel set in a thinly veiled Middle East, it is a rapturous adventure propagating the first installment of our myths for a new age. Our second book, The Martyrs, is the first in what we hope to be a series of lyric and philosophical texts, issuing the first as a sort of manifesto for the brand. I am currently working on publishing some articles for journals online, working as a screenwriter on foreign language films and trying to get my fiction published! In my spare time I like to give unsolicited political speeches to unsuspecting crowds and make propaganda videos that express a vision for a new world order.
About the Writing:
The Year of Things Lost is part meta-fictive, part-autobiographical. It tells the story of a young poet, Zahreddine, who rises to great acclaim but for all the wrong reasons. Zahreddine is the moniker of a writer who crosses the channels from the Middle East to arrive in Berlin at a time of great migration. Immersed in a slowly unraveling geopolitical narrative which brings Europe to its knees- the converging of these cultures in a dance of violence and speculation- the person embodying the poet Zahreddine arrives at a place of great intellectual and spiritual strength, fulfilling their desire to polish their work for publication. Their work is a cross-analysis of themselves and of their place in society- given that they have sought refuge from their homeland, and are seeking to flee from their own body, performing a transition of genders upon their new life. The book delves into this sudden history to pose questions on the author's political intentions, to flee violence from without and discrepancy from within, and to unveil the contradictions that continue to persist in the ongoing mystery. Drawing on a cross-narrative of the aftereffects of an elongated War on Terror and the effects of mass migration from the global south to Europe, and early prison arrangements that so defined the political arena during the early years of the never-ending war, Zahreddine is pulled into a narrative of surveillance and suspicion that will ultimately decide their fate. Will it decide their destiny? It should be said that the story depends on a certain blend of fact and fiction. Many of the characters and organizations who exist in the text exist in real life. This penetrative element of the fiction is intended to obscure the reality of what is real and what is not- a mirror to the modern phantasmagoria of elements and senses by which we experience information. Zahreddine is depicted as a kind of cross-breed of media stunt and political savage. In their time, many have stood forward and announced themselves as Zahreddine, adding to the mystery surrounding the figure. Much like our global politics today, attuned to the ebb and flow of cross-party dynamics- Zahreddine is both burdened and empowered by this challenging state. It is in this cavity of meaning and order that Zahreddine ultimately speaks with their greatest power- injecting a political creed in their absence. They are the face of those prisoners of war who have ultimately disappeared, whose fate remains unknown- whilst also emerging as a progressive, modern hipster in the local scene. Dealing with issues important to the author, politics and gender will be cross-examined to reflect on the uprising that Zahreddine intends- to lift the oppression of the body and mind. A study of Zahreddine’s transgenderism emboldens the view. There are many faces to Zahreddine. We dissect them all.
The book will be published by BDP in 2020...
