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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 May 2000 Issue No. 483 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 25 - 31 May 2000 Issue No. 483
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Features Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters New projects, same faces
Librarian Mohamed Hamdi with Heikal, Ziyad and Ashour
Sunday saw the annual meeting of the Society of the Friends of Ahmed Bahaaeddin, a grant-making institution founded two years ago with the aim of encouraging young researchers in various fields of academic endeavour, and keeping the writer's name alive through helping them gain recognition. Attended by a wide array of writers and intellectuals -- veteran writer Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Ziyad Bahaaeddin and novelist Radwa Ashour were among those who presided over the proceedings -- the meeting evolved from an award-giving ceremony into an extended intellectual seminar in which dialogue, one of the society's main objectives, reigned supreme.
Two winners from last year -- Nasser Iraqi and Shadha El-Khatib -- presented to the audience the culmination of their year's work on the history of art in journalism and the city of Jerusalem, respectively. Many other researchers had received grants to complete their planned books. After reviewing the manuscripts, however, the assessment committee -- whose members include, among others, historian Tariq El-Bishri, editor Mustafa Nabil and Ashour -- it was agreed that these two books, in that order, were most worthy of publication. Two new winners, out of 54 candidates, received grants to start their research this year: Imad Ghazali on "the tree of 20th-century poetry in Egypt", and Abir Attia on "Ahmed Bahaaeddin and the Palestinian issue." Both spoke extensively of their interests and how they hope to pursue them.
As Heikal noted at the beginning, though, the meeting was attended by the same people, a fact that goes against the spirit of development and change that the society attempts to promote. The opportunity for dialogue that the occasion affords, he said, will nonetheless pay off. Among the senior speakers were Ashour, Abdel-Azim Anis, Ibrahim Saadeddin and Mohamed Sid Ahmed. The issues discussed included the liquidity crisis, which brought up various other aspects of the Egyptian economy, the Palestinian question and the hubbub over Haydar Haydar's A Banquet for Seaweed.
