My write-up of the event is in Al Masry Al Youm. To sum up: The big surprise was that the Naguib Mahfouz Medal award went to “the revolutionary creativity of the Egyptian people” rather than to a novelist. Although this didn’t seem to come as a surprise to many. (The whole article.)
Authors Bahaa Abdel Meguid and Hamdy al-Gazzar made faces before the event.
Speakers file onto the stage. The event, usually held at the American University in Cairo's downtown campus, was moved to al-Sawy Culture Wheel's River Hall in Zamalek because of recent attacks on protesters.
The panel discussing Mahfouz and revolution: Dr. Samia Mehrez, Dr. Emad Abu Ghazi, Hala al-Badry, Ibrahim Abdel Meguid, Hamdy al-Gazzar, Humphrey Davies, and Bahaa Abdel Meguid. Each spoke very briefly.
Muhammad al-Sawy introduces the event as AUC Press Director Mark Linz waits.
Mark Linz and Samia Mehrez present a replica of the plaque.
With the zoom lens.
Someone did ask me how the $1,000 that typically comes with the award will be distributed equitably amongst Egypt’s 80 million.
Well, no mention was made of the $1,000. However, Mark Linz did say that the AUC Press will be dedicating 100,000LE to translation of Arabic novels.
And the documentary that was played at the event:
Categories: Naguib Mahfouz, Naguib Mahfouz Medal for Literature
