Al-Ahram Weekly | Culture

		6 - 12 June 2002 Issue No.589 Culture	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Briefs
By Youssef Rakha

Revolution revisited

Mohamed Naguib

TO CELEBRATE the 50th anniversary of the 1952 July Revolution, the General Egyptian Book Organisation (GEBO) is re-issuing 14 publications. The books and documents in question, GEBO chairman Samir Sarhan announced, deal with the Revolution and its resonance elsewhere in the region.
GEBO is also organising a symposium on the effects of the Revolution on cultural life during the upcoming Citadel Book Market, starting on 15 July.

International revolution
THIS July a Ministry of Culture team headed by Minister Farouk Hosni is organising a three-day international conference to celebrate the golden jubilee of the 1952 Revolution, perceived as the catalyst for liberation movements in Africa, the Arab World and beyond. A number of international cultural figures will be invited, and the General Organisation for Cultural Palaces will organise celebrations in the various governorates to coincide with the event.

July books
STARTING on 24 July the Library of Alexandria will organise a book exhibition to coincide with the Citadel Book Market with many Egyptian and Arab publishers already expressing interest in participating. A number of literary figures have been invited to contribute to seminars, including Farouk Guweida, Mohamed El-Rumiehi, Naser El-Ansari and Teher Benjaloun.

Seeing, hearing
FORMER Minister of Culture Tharwat Okasha, whose ongoing project of compiling encyclopaedias fills a significant gap in Arabic letters, has finally settled on a publisher for his three-volume The Eye Hears, The Ear Sees, a large-scale reference work dealing with the history of Indian, Chinese and Japanese art. The publisher is Dar Al-Shorouq, and Okasha signed a contract last week.

Satellite deal
MEDIA magnate Sheikh Saleh Kamel, the owner of the ART television network, has bought the rights to broadcast the popular, often controversial Al-Jazeera channel in Egypt and other countries covered by Arabsat and Nilesat.
Following the multi-million dollar deal Al-Jazeera was incorporated into the "Awael" group of channels provided by ART for a monthly fee. Starting on 1 July, the channel will be coded though currently it is available free of charge.

Death of a magnate
THE VETERAN film producer Ihab El-Leithi died Friday morning in the Arab Contractors Hospital at the age of 70. A member of the family that includes script writer Mamdouh El-Leithi, distributor Gamal El-Leithi, anchor Amr El-Leithi and producer Wagih El-Leithi, Ihab El-Leithi was deputy head of the Ministry of Culture's Film-making Chamber and produced some 400 films, some of which, including Al-Taghia (The Tyrant), were recently sold to the MBC satellite channel.

Honouring Rifa'a
A FRENCH-funded project to establish a Rifa'a El-Tahtawi cultural centre in Sohag will renovate the 19th-century literary renaissance pioneer's library and restore the manuscripts it contains. No timetable has yet been set for its opening to the general public.

Tangiers poetess
THE RESULTS of the fifth Tangiers Poetess Award, which bears the name of Iraqi poet Nazik Al-Malaeka, were announced last week.
Syrian poet Ghalia Khawja shared the first prize with Moroccan poet Abdel-Karim Al-Amari, while the second and third prizes went to Syrian poet Mounir Mohamed Khalaf and Moroccan poet Khadiji Mawadi, respectively.
Egyptian poet Ahmed Kamal and Moroccan poet Saida Amieri received the first and second Best Poem Awards, respectively, while Egyptian poet Abdel-Moniem Mohamed and Saudi poet Hafiz Ali Al-Kariri shared the third.

Palestine in Baghdad
TWENTY-two nations participated in the Third Baghdad Festival for Plastic Arts. Among the Egyptian works participating was Ahmed Nawwar's documentary Filastin, 52 Sana Ihtilal (Palestine: 52 Years of Occupation).
The film narrates the tragedies suffered by the Palestinian people during various stages of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Ramallah resurrected
AFTER a period of intense military conflict and cultural stagnation, cultural activities are being resumed in Ramallah. A new periodical dealing with plastic arts, Al-Basira (Vision) has just been launched. The editorial board includes Khaled Al-Hourani, Rana Enani and Suleiman Mansour.

Dramatic news
THIRTY scriptwriters have been commissioned by the Egyptian Radio and Television Union to each write one episode of a forthcoming series entitled Ahdath 24 Sa'a (24 Hours). Each episode will be based on a news item of current national or international concern, and it is expected that several will deal with the Palestinian Intifada.

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