Hiba Noor Khan wins the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize

Hiba Noor Khan has been announced as the winner of the Jhalak Children’s & Young Adult Prize for Safiyyah’s War (Andersen Press).

The winner was announced on Thursday 30th May 2024 at a ceremony held at the British Library. She was awarded £1,000 and received a work of art created by Yousef Saif, as part of the ongoing Jhalak Art Residency.

Khan’s Safiyyah’s War is set in Paris during the Second World War, and was described as “an exquisitely written, hopeful, and necessary book for these impossibly difficult times”.

Singh added: “Hiba Noor Khan’s Safiyyah’s War is an extraordinary story of courage, hope and humanity in the face of unspeakable horrors. These are books for the world we live in, and the one we must imagine, and build for the future – books to read now, pass on to the future, and treasure forever.”

The artwork created for the winner of the 2024 Jhalak Children’s and YA Prize by Saif, titled “The Eye of Time and the Buraq”, has been inspired by memory and Palestinian history.

This year sees the return of the partnership launched in 2021 with National Book Tokens, which aims to increase awareness and support for the nominated titles among bookshops across the UK and Ireland. The organisers of the prize have also partnered with The Rabbit Hole Bookshop in North Lincolnshire to bring author events to school children this summer.

You can read the full article here.