‘Dar Akwan’ Sponsors 1st Edition of Mohammad Abdul Moneim Zahran Short Story Award

Mohammed Abdul Moneim Zahran.
Mohammed Abdul Moneim Zahran.
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‘Dar Akwan’ Sponsors 1st Edition of Mohammad Abdul Moneim Zahran Short Story Award

Mohammed Abdul Moneim Zahran.
Mohammed Abdul Moneim Zahran.

Sponsored by Dar Akwan Publishing, the first edition of the Mohammed Abdul Moneim Zahran Award for Short Story kicked off in Cairo, with a jury headed by novelist Ibrahim Abdul Majid, winner of the Nile Award for Literature.

Zahran died in March, he was in his 50s, and left various literary works such as stories, plays, novels, and children literature, including “Things of the Night”, “Confusion of the Creature”, “Next to You When it Rains”, “Seven Traveling Carriages”, and “The Rabbit and The Parrot”.

He received several awards including the “Souad al-Sabah Award for Best Play” (Kuwait, 2001), and Sharjah Award for Arab Creativity - short story (2002).

The jury announced in a statement that applicants for the award should be Egyptians who have never had their work published and have never received an award before.

The award includes two categories: the “Full Story Collection” targeting writers aged 30 years and older; and “The Individual Short Story” targeting writers between 18 and 30 years.

The winner will receive a small cash prize, and their winning work will be published by Dar Akwan. Hopefuls should submit their application before mid-August.

Author Sumaya Abdul Moneim, wife of the late writer and secretary general of the award, said this award is a merited tribute to Zahran’s creative and unique journey.

She added that the idea was inspired by Zahran himself, who sponsored and oversaw many literary awards in the Upper Egypt district. The award aims at crowning the journey of a writer who devoted himself to story writing despite his remarkable talent in other literary forms.

Mahmoud Shawki, director of Dar Akwan, said: “Storyteller Mohammed Abdul Moneim Zahran is a distinct, pioneering talent in the world of storytelling that can be compared to Youssef Idris and Yahya al-Taher Abdullah.”

The coming editions of the award will be expanded with a bigger cash prize, and other categories alongside the short story, he revealed.



UNESCO Adds Cameroon, Malawi Sites to Heritage List

Cameroon's Mandara Mountains site made the 2025 UNESCO world heritage list - AFP
Cameroon's Mandara Mountains site made the 2025 UNESCO world heritage list - AFP
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UNESCO Adds Cameroon, Malawi Sites to Heritage List

Cameroon's Mandara Mountains site made the 2025 UNESCO world heritage list - AFP
Cameroon's Mandara Mountains site made the 2025 UNESCO world heritage list - AFP

Two cultural sites, in Cameroon and Malawi, were added Friday to the UNESCO World Heritage List, said the organization, which has made boosting Africa's representation a priority.

The Diy-Gid-Biy landscape of the Mandara Mountains, in the far north of Cameroon, consists of archaeological sites, probably created between the 12th and 17th centuries, surrounded by agricultural terraces and sites of worship, AFP reported.

Malawi's choice is a mountain range dominated by Mount Mulanje, in the south of the country, considered a sacred place inhabited by gods, spirits and ancestors.

Among the 30 heritage list applications under consideration this year, two others are from African countries that had not previously been represented on the World Heritage List.

They are the Gola Tiwai Forests in Sierra Leone, which provide sanctuary for threatened species such as forest elephants, and the biosphere reserve of the Bijagos Archipelago in Guinea-Bissau.

UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay has presented Africa as a priority during her two terms in office, although the continent remains underrepresented in the list.

Among the candidates from elsewhere, a number of competing sites date back to prehistoric times, such as the Carnac stones in western France and rock carvings along the Bangucheon Stream in South Korea.

Making the UNESCO heritage list often sparks a lucrative tourism drive, and can unlock funding for the preservation of sites that can face threats including pollution, war and negligence.