A Panel Discussion to Inaugurate the "Naguib Mahfouz Project" at the BA
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The Bibliotheca Alexandrina, in cooperation with the Embassy of Sweden in Cairo and Diwan Publishing House, organized a panel discussion to launch the "Naguib Mahfouz Project", which celebrates the legacy of the great writer.
The Naguib Mahfouz Project aims to reintroduce the great writer's work through art, thus inviting the public to interact with it afresh by producing contemporary artworks inspired by his legacy. Through the project, the artists designed new covers for Naguib Mahfouz's books, together with portraits of him at different stages of his life.
At the beginning of the event, Dr. Sherif Riad, Head of the BA External Relations and Media Sector, welcomed the attendees and stressed the great interest of the BA in this significant project that links the works of the prominent writer Naguib Mahfouz with art and creativity. He also expressed his delight that the BA had hosted the ambitious team that presented this project.
For his part, H.E. Mr. Håkan Emsgård, Ambassador of Sweden to Egypt, said that the inauguration ceremony of the Naguib Mahfouz Project is timely as it coincides with the 35th anniversary of him winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, and that Sweden is currently witnessing the "Nobel Week" celebrations.
The Ambassador also stated that this project seeks to provide a new vision with regard to the reading and understanding of the works of Naguib Mahfouz in a contemporary context, through new cultural and artistic expression tools.
Novelist Ahmed Al-Qarmalawi, Director of Publishing at Diwan, and artists Youssef Sabry, Marwan Sabra and Abdel Rahman Mahmoud, participated in the panel discussion and shared with the audience their experience as well as their artistic and creative vision in executing the Naguib Mahfouz Project.