The 27th Egyptian Writers Conference is taking place over three days in the Red Sea city of Sharm El-Sheikh. It will be inaugurated on Thursday, 17 January at 7pm by the Culture Minister Saber Arab, the Governor of South Sinai, Khaled Fouda, and General Organization for Cultural Palaces (COCP) head Saad Abdel-Rahman.

The conference, headed by renowned novelist Sonallah Ibrahim, tackles four areas of discussion: challenges of transformation in art, media and education; challenges of contemporary writing; the role of cultural institutions in transformation; the role of intellectuals.

Ten intellectuals will be honoured at the conference, including journalist Sayed Mahmoud and poets Ashraf El-Anany, Salah Badran and Osama Orabi.

In preparation for the event, the GOCP published four books, including Negmet Agustus (August Star) by Sonallah Ibrahim, and Al-Thur City of South Sinai, a history by Said El-Husseini.

The conference is being held without any ceremonial celebrations due to the recent political and social disasters that have claimed many lives.