Italian ambassador to Croatia Paolo Trichilo presented his latest book Diplomacy and Literature: The Eight Diplomats Who Won the Nobel Prize in Literature and former Egyptian ambassador to Washington Mohamed Tawfik spoke about his creative writings through novels published in Arabic and translated into English and Swedish.

The symposium, moderated by Ambassador Amr Aljowaily, editor in Al-Diplomacy magazine, and Ambassador Stefano Baldi, Permanent Representative of Italy to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, discussed the writings of Egyptian and Italian diplomats in the field of literature.

Trichilo reviewed the biographies of the eight diplomats who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, as covered in his recently published book.

These diplomats were from Chile (2), France, Yugoslavia, Greece, Guatemala, Lithuania, and Mexico, meaning that none of them were from Asia, Africa, or North America, as the continents of South and Central America and Europe were largely represented.

Baldi presented the book he had published on the writings of Italian diplomats, which was the subject of discussion at a cultural event at the Egyptian Diplomatic Club held in February 2010, along with a similar reference book on the writings of Swiss diplomats.

Answering one of the moderators’ questions, Tawfiq explained that his fictional writings, especially novels, including “Candy Girl,” were obviously not related to any real events, which allowed him to write creatively.

However, one of the novels he wrote while being ambassador to Australia has raised much debate when he was later appointed as ambassador to Washington, given that its imaginary events were related to the United States, he noted.

Official diplomatic correspondence may not be devoid of literary writing, despite the clarity it requires, as when diplomats address an accredited country, they must rely on the existing narrative in order to be persuasive, while novelists and writers have the opportunity to present alternatives, Tawfik mentioned.

Diplo Academy Founder Dr. Jovan Kurbalija discussed the impact of artificial intelligence on writers and authors, considering its high speed and wide scope, as well as its increasing ability to be creative.

He presented the idea of ever-evolving books, symbolized by the term “Kaizen,” through which it is possible to issue initial copies of books in a very short period of time, where the “human” author provides the flow of ideas and then reviews. The book then receives interactive feedback and undergoes continuous development to cope with the changing environment.

Ambassador Amr Aljowaily, co-moderator of the session, noted that the Cairo Book Fair hosted two seminars in 2023 and 2024 with the participation of former foreign ministers and senior ambassadors to present the writings of Egyptian diplomats as part of the current effort to prepare a reference study in the form of bibliography, classifying the works of Egyptian diplomats under the title “From Telegrams to Book: Egyptian Diplomats as Authors.”

So far, about 1,000 books written by about 150 Egyptian diplomats since 1952 have been surveyed in various fields of publishing, including literature, biographical memories, history, and regional studies, including the Palestinian issue, he added.