Abu Dhabi on Monday night awarded the first international prize for Arabic fiction, part of an attempt by the United Arab Emirates to use government surpluses to rekindle Arabic literature.

Modeled on Britain’s Man Booker Prize the $50,000 (€32,600, £24,850) award, supported by the Emirates Foundation,went to the Egyptian author Baha Taher for his book Sunset Oasis. Mr Taher beat five other shortlisted authors – two Lebanese, the others Syrian, Jordanian and Egyptian to the prize. Their works deal with themes common to various parts of the troubled Middle East, from civil war to the nature of exile.