Turkish Nobel Laureate writer Orhan Pamuk will start a visit to Cairo Thursday, 12 February, to inaugurate the first edition of the Cairo Literature Festival, which will be held between 14 and 20 February, under theme "Blending of Cultures and Communication Across Generations."
The Cairo Literature Festival is a new festival organised by Sefsafa for Culture and Publishing, a private cultural institution, and will host around 35 writers from 16 countries.
Pamuk, 62, will arrive Thursday night and will inaugurate the fair's first sessions on Saturday, 14 February, at 7:00pm along with Egyptian renowned writer and novelist Ibrahim Abdel-Meguied and critic Sherine Abul-Naga.
The festival will include readings of literary texts, discussion panels, and will tackle issues of writing and translation.
According to festival organisers, it aims at promoting communication among the literary public on the one hand and writers and critics on the other, and to strengthen ties among different generations of Egyptian and Arab writers, as well as to promote cultural exchange between Arabic literature and the literature of other countries, through inviting a number of writers from around the world and translating samples of their works into Arabic and reading them in their original languages, and then Arabic, to the public.
The festival will be held in several venues in Fatimid and Khedivial Cairo, including Bayt Al-Suhaymi, Bayt Al-Sinnari, and traditional coffee shops such as Zahret Al-Bustan.
The list of invited writers includes Christoph Peters (Germany), Micheál Ó Conghaile (Ireland), Kätlin Kaldmaa (Estonia), Monica Kompaniková (Slovakia), Petra Hulova (Czech Republic), Stanislaw Strasburger and Andrizej Muszynski (Poland), and Dennis Krossovki (Hungary).
The advisory committee includes writers Ibrahim Abdel Meguid and Hamdy El-Gazzar, prominent translator Humphrey T Davies, Mehmet Demirtas (president of the Istanbul Literature Festival), Michael Marsh (president of The Prague Writers’ Festival), and Tarek Al-Taher, editor-in-chief of the literary magazine Akhbar Al-Adab.
Here is the full programme of the Cairo Literature Festival:
Saturday, 14 February 2015
Festival Opening (7:00 pm)
Guests: Orhan Pamuk (Nobel Prize winner, 2006, Turkey) and Ibrahim Abdel-Maguid (Egypt), moderated by journalist Sherine Abul-Naga (Egypt)
Location: Beit El-Sehimi
Sunday, 15 February 2015
The East in European Writers’ Eyes (7:00 pm)
Guests: Christoph Peters (Germany) and Ezz-Eldin Shoukry Feshir (Egypt), moderated by Heba Fathy (Cairo University, Egypt)
Location: Goethe Institute
Translating Arabic Literature; obstacles and prospects (7:00 pm)
Guests: Humphrey Davies (USA), Hamdy El-Gazzar (Egypt) and Ahmed El-Shahawy (Egypt), moderated by Anwar Mogheith (Egypt)
Location: Beit El-Sennari
Monday, 16 February 2015
Eastern Women Writing between Egypt and Europe (7:00 pm)
Guests: Monika Kompaníková (Slovakia), Petra Hilová (Czech Republic) and Mansoura Ezz-Eldin (Egypt), moderated by Khaled El-Beltagi (Faculty of Languages, Egypt)
Location: Doum Cultural Foundation
Kuwaiti Youth Voices (7:00 pm)
Guests: Ibrahim Al-Hindal (Kuwait), Moubarak Kamal (Kuwait) and Afrah Al-Hindal (Kuwait), moderated by Yassir Abdel-Hafiz (Egypt)
Location: Cairo Atelier (Downtown)
Writings of Youth Writers in Central and Eastern Europe (7:00 pm)
Guests: Dénes Krusovszky (Hungary) Stanslaw Strasburger (Poland) and Andrzej Muszyński (Poland), moderated by Ali Al-Adawy (Egypt)
Location: Beit El-Sennari
Tuesday, 17 February 2015
Best Seller Literature, Art Principles and Audience Requirements (1:00 pm)
Guests: Ahmed Mourad (Egypt), Hassan Kamal (Egypt) and Sayed El-Wakil (Egypt), moderated by Mustafa El-Faramawi (Egypt)
Location: Faculty of Languages, Ain Shams University
Voices from European Literature (7:00 pm)
Guests: Micheál ÓConghaile (Ireland), Kätlin Kaldmaa (Estonia), Ilma Rakusa (Switzerlan) and Christos Papadopulos (Greece), moderated by Abdelrehim Youssef (Egypt)
Location: Doum Cultural Foundation
Arabic Literature Away from Publishing Centres (7:00 pm)
Guests: Ibrahim Al-Hindal (Kuwait), Mohamed Al-Asfur (Libya), Fadi Zaghmout (Jordan) and Hammour Ziada (Sudan), moderated by Mohamed Shoair (Egypt)
Location: Cairo Atelier (Downtown)
Wednesday, 18 February 2015
Translating Literature into Arabic, Egypt’s Location on the Map (1:00 pm)
Guests: Anwar Mogheith (Egypt), Sohair El-Mosadfa (Egypt) and Refaat Sallam (Egypt), moderated by Leila Gamal-Eldin (Egypt)
Location: Faculty of Languages, Ain Shams University
New Writing in German Language Today (7:00pm)
Guests: Ilma Rakusa (Switzerland), Christoph Peters (Germany) and Ricarda Junge (Germany).
Location: Kotob Khan Maadi
Current International Poetry Scene, Voices from the World (7:00 pm)
Guests: Kätlin Kaldmaa (Estonia), Mohamed Eid Ibrahim (Egypt) and Milena Oda (Czech), moderated by Sayed Mahmoud (Egypt)
Location: Beit El-Sit Wasila (Beit Al-Shi’r / Poetry House)
Dive Into the World of a Foreign Writer (7:00 pm)
Guests: Tariq Imam (Egypt), Persa Koumoutsi (Greece), moderated by Khaled Raouf (Egypt)
Location: Doum Cultural Foundation
Thursday, 19 February 2015
Cairo Youth Voices (7:00 pm)
Guests: Areeg Gamal (Egypt), Mustafa Soliman (Egypt) and Ahmed Shawqy Ali (Egypt), Asmaa El-Shikh (Egypt), moderated by Hamdy El-Gazzar (Egypt)
Location: Wekalet Al-Ghouri
Voice of the People: Contemporary Colloquial Poetry (7:00 pm)
Guests: Sayed Hegab (Egypt), Mustafa Ibrahim (Egypt), Mohamed Ibrahim (Egypt), Wael Fathi (Egypt), Maysara Salah-Eddine (Egypt) and Walid Abelmonem (Egypt), moderated by the actor Sabry Fawaz (Egypt)
Location: Wekalet Al-Ghouri