Pack of Cards
This week, my sweets, I'm starting my pack off with a wonderful piece of news: my dear colleague and our very own editor-in-chief, Hosny Guindy , will be receiving the highly coveted Mustafa and Ali Amin Award this Sunday for excellence in the fields of journalism and art. Awarded annually by press giant Akhbar Al-Youm, the ceremony will be taking place at the Conrad Hotel, under the auspices of Prime Minister Atef Ebeid. Guindy's efforts over the past 12 years in making Al-Ahram Weekly Egypt's leading English-language newspaper, and a trendsetter in the media world in general, are being recognised by the award committee. Two more of my colleagues -- journalist Amal Sourour and photographer Mohamed Mosaad -- will also be awarded for the unique work they've brought to the pages of Al-Ahram's Nisf Al-Donya magazine. The best interview award will be going to Al-Akhbar journalist Mumtaz El-Qut, while TV announcer Youssef Ma'atti will be honoured for his articles and TV programmes. Veteran comedians Abdel-Moneim Madbouli and Fouad El-Mohandis are receiving lifetime achievement awards for their work in cinema and on stage, while gifted actress Somaiya El-Alfi will be recognised for her role in Al-Attar Wa Al-Saba' Banat, one of last Ramadan TV's smash hits.
As always the awards will be presented to coincide with the death anniversary of journalistic pioneer and veteran writer Mustafa Amin, who, along with his twin brother Ali, founded Akhbar Al-Youm in the first half of the 20th century.
A great time was had by all those who were lucky enough to be invited to Irish Ambassador to Cairo Richard O'Brien's reception in honour of the recently completed International Symposium on English-Language Literature at Ain Shams University. The party took place at O'Brien's residence, and featured many of the writers and academics from Egypt and Ireland who shone at the symposium itself, including celebrated Irish author and professor John MacGahern. O'Brien was full of praise for the symposium's organisers, who managed to attract a bevy of prominent writers and academics to the event, which featured some 70 papers under the theme "Old Readings of New Masters".The symposium's Irish Night, meanwhile, held at the Cairo Opera House's Al-Hanager Theatre, was also a blast. The Bewley's Café Theatre Group flew in from Ireland to perform Bram Stoker's The Star Opera and Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale and the Rose, both of which had the audience hungry for more.
Last week, Bangladeshi Ambassador Mahmoud Hassan hosted a dinner for the visiting Bangladeshi minister of jute. In case you did not know this, Bangladesh is the world's largest exporter of jute (fibre from the outer skin of certain tropical plants) and jute goods -- and thus has a whole ministry dedicated to this very important cotton-like industry. The jute minister was in Egypt to discuss trade relations with Egyptian Minister of Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros-Ghali. Egyptian businessmen who deal with jute, as well as journalists like veteran political analyst Mohamed Sid-Ahmed and Al-Ahram Weekly's very own cultural editor Mursi Saad El- Din, were in attendance.
It is also worth mentioning, my dears, that because of the current war on Iraq, the Bangladeshi government -- headed by Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia -- decided to cancel its National Day celebrations as a token of support for the Iraqi people.
At the Semiramis Intercontinental Hotel, a press conference recently took place featuring Turkish Ambassador Krokumal Haktanyar as the main speaker. His audience was the Foreign Press Association (FPA); his subject, the current situation in the Middle East. After the enlightening talk, FPA Chairman Volkhard Windfuhr as well as Hassan El-Hawary, a member of the group's board, awarded prominent actor Adel Imam a commemorative plaque for his extensive efforts as a UN Special Envoy.
My last item this week celebrates the wedding of one of my dear colleagues, Khaled El-Ghamri, a talented member of our layout team. All of us here at the Weekly were extremely excited to see Khaled and his lovely bride Doaa dance the night away at the Royal Tower. The splendid party was marked by a beautifully decorated ballroom, with white flower table arrangements and plush kosha chairs for the happy bride and groom, as well as the exciting sounds of pop stars Khaled Aggag and Amer Mounib on stage. Khaled and Doaa's family and friends couldn't have been prouder -- I spotted Khaled's father, Salah El-Ghamri, chairman of the board of the national company for distribution, and Doaa's father, prominent businessman El-Yamani Felfela, amongst the crowd. To name just a few of the luminaries who were also there to celebrate the happy occasion, there was Hitler Tantawi, head of the Administrative Control Authority, former Prime Minister Ali Lotfy, former ministers Ahmed Guweili, Hassan El-Alfi, Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, Maher Abaza, and Abdel-Halim Moussa, and prominent writers Salah Montasser and Ragab El-Banna. The Weekly was also there in force -- Editor-in- Chief Hosny Guindy, Managing Editor Hani Shukrallah, and Layout Editor Samir Sobhy foremost amongst us. The only sad face I saw at the party was that of little Dima, Khaled's baby niece, who couldn't dance with or sit next to Khaled as often as she wanted to. After all, until this party three-year-old Dima had proudly been telling everybody that "Khalood" was her groom.
The happy couple is currently in the Maldives celebrating their honeymoon. Congratulations to them both!
¨ Yesterday, my dearies, was not only Giza governorate's National Day, but a very special occasion for that governorate's younger generation. Why? Because the Ahmed Orabi Children's Cultural Centre in Mohandseen was inaugurated by Giza governor Mahmoud Abul-Leil and Head of the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces Anas El-Fiqi. The centre is the first in Giza dedicated to children, and features an impressive library, studio, and theatre, as well as regularly scheduled workshops offering younger people the chance to learn all about making ceramics, kilim (handmade carpets), and a variety of other skills.
© The Cairo Opera House -- never far removed from current events -- organised a seminar yesterday simply entitled "Baghdad". A documentary about Iraq -- called Leil Al-Amriya (The Amriya Night) -- was screened, accompanied by music played by Iraqi oud master Nassir Shamma. A second documentary -- about late Iraqi painter Laila El-Attar -- was also shown. Radio announcer Entisar Gharib recited poems by famous Iraqi writers Mahfouz Dawoud Souliman, Boushra El- Bustani, and Fawzi El-Saadi, and Egyptian musical troupe Al- Banadra put on a performance of nationalistic songs conducted by Mohamed Ezzat.
Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 10 -16 April 2003 (Issue No. 633)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/633/pe1.htm