A novelist wins the Sawiris Cultural Award, and relinquishes it after one night
The Sawiris Cultural Award in Egypt announced the names of the winners in its eighteenth session, which went to Shadi Lewis in the field of fiction for his novel (A Brief History of the Caliph and East Cairo) published by Al-Ain Publishing House, but the writer who has been living in London for years announced his waiver of it minutes later.
Lewis wrote on his Facebook page after the end of the award ceremony, which was held at the Cultural Tahrir Center of the American University in Cairo, "I am certainly happy with the news and grateful to the award committee for choosing it. .
He did not disclose the reasons for this decision, but he wrote in a second post on his page, "A simple clarification before I close the talk on the subject: Dar Al Ain Publishing House submitted to the Sawiris Award with my knowledge and I did not mind. Dear Professor Wissam Ragab, Director of the Award, kindly informed me that I won the award in advance according to the award system. As for me, there are no explanations or justifications for my motives that I need to announce. I will simply give up the award tomorrow, as I said.
The award was established in 2005 and is presented annually by the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development in the fields of novel, short story, criticism, cinematic script, theatrical text, and children’s literature, with a value of up to 1.5 million pounds (about 55 thousand dollars).
The award ceremony was held on Sunday evening, in the presence of a number of ministers, ambassadors, writers, critics, and public figures, including the famous cardiologist Magdi Yaqoub, and included an artistic segment by Masar Egbari.
Doctor and writer Muhammad Abu al-Ghar, a member of the award's board of trustees, said in the opening speech, "The Sawiris Cultural Award has achieved great success. It has proven itself as one of the most important awards presented in Egypt, and it is not only of good financial value, but also has a very great moral value."
He added, "There is no interference in any way in selecting the winners. The arbitration committee alone is responsible for that... The demand for applications for the award exceeded all expectations in the past years."
Aboul Ghar announced, after finishing his speech, that a special award this year would be presented to a writer who did not participate in the competition for the prizes, at a value of 150,000 pounds.
The award for the best work in the field of literary criticism and narratives went to Bahaa Jahin for the book (The King and the Owner) jointly with Magdy Gerges for the book (Teacher Ibrahim Johari... An Egyptian Biography from the Eighteenth Century).
Ahmed Qarni won the award equally for the best book for children under 12 years old, with Nima Zaidan, for the book (Why the Crocodile Doesn't Fly), and Ashraf Abu Al-Yazid with Yasser Jaisah, for the book (My Cat Is Writing a Book).
The Best Screenplay Award (Senior Writers Branch) was won by Ahmed Al-Hawari with Ibrahim Al-Batout for the screenplay of “A Feather and a Fish”, while the award for “Youth Writers Branch” was won by Muhammad Al-Samman for the screenplay of “Terrestrials”.
And Ahmed Nabil won the first place in the award for the best theatrical text for the text (Sinbad's Picnic in Baghdad Circles), while Imad Mutawa won the second place for the text (quiet music).
As for the novel prize for young writers, it went to Charles Akl for the novel (Red Orange) published by Dar Al Karma, and Ahmed Ibrahim Ismail won the second place for the novel (Abu Jamea) published by Dar Al Hala Publishing.
Muhammad Sorour won the first place for the best collection of short stories in the Youth of Writers branch for his collection (Three Traps for a One-eyed Wolf), while Muhammad Al Burami came in second place for his collection (For Lovers, Scoundrels and Bandits) issued by the General Authority for Cultural Palaces.
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