Al-Kindi, of Egyptian origin, Omar Al-Aqqad wins the biggest novel award in Canada

Agencies: The Canadian novelist and journalist of Egyptian origin, Omar Al-Aqqad, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the largest Canadian prize in fiction, worth 100,000 Canadian dollars this year.

Al-Aqqad won the prize for the novel "What a Strange Paradise" at a ceremony in Toronto broadcast on television on Monday evening, according to the Canadian CTV News station.

The novel, published by the publisher "Macmillan & Stewart," revolves around two children during the global refugee crisis.

The jury said the novel "raises questions about indifference and helplessness, and ultimately provides evidence on how to communicate empathetically in a divided world."

Al-Aqqad, 39, moved to Canada when he was 16, attended high school in Montreal before enrolling at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He lived in Toronto for about a decade.

The prize is awarded to the author of the best novel or collection of short stories published in English by a Canadian.