a gay man as its main character, won the Al-Naqid prize. Her third novel, Harit al-miyah (The Tiller of Waters), won the 2001 Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature. Her 2019 novel Bareed Al-Layl ("The Night Mail") won the 2019 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF); it was thereafter translated into English by Marilyn Booth and published in English under the title Voices of the Lost. Barakat is the second woman to have ever won the IPAF. She was previously longlisted for the IPAF in 2013, for her novel Malakoot hadhahi al-ard ("The Kingdom of This Earth"). She was decorated with the Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2002 and the Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite National in 2008. References External links An excerpt of the 2021 English translation of Bareed Al-Layl/Voices of the Lost available on Literary Hub External links Profile at Al-Ahram 1952 births French Maronites French women novelists Lebanese emigrants to France Lebanese Maronites Lebanese novelists Lebanese women writers Lebanese University alumni Living people Recipients of the Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature International Prize for Arabic Fiction winners