(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Lebanese born French author Amin Maalouf awarded the 2016 Cultural Personality of the Year prize of the Shaikh Zayed Book Awards (SZBA) on Sunday night in a ceremony at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair which ends on Tuesday.
Following the footsteps of His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai who won the Cultural Personality award last year Maalouf addressed his audience with a passionate plea for books. "The future belongs to all those who love science knowledge arts and literature to all those who love creativity and innovation" he said. Maalouf walked away with Dh1 million and a gold SZBA medal while the other six winners received Dh750000 each and a gold medal. Altogether 1169 authors publishers and intellectuals from 33 countries were nominated for the SZBA's nine categories from which a panel of 300 experts selected 120 finalists and eventually the winners. For two categories Children's Literature and Young Author winners were withheld as they did not meet the Awards' standards. The other winners included Al Sarab (The Mirage) by Dr Jamal Sanad Al Suwaidi Director-General of the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research in the Contribution to the Development of Nations category. The book focuses on the emergence of politicised religious groups and conducts a multilevel analysis of their religious thought and political ideologies. The Literature Award went to Egyptian novelist Ibrahim Abdelmeguid's Ma Wara'a Al Kitaba (Beyond Writing) a book that narrates the author's experiences; the Literary and Art Criticism Award went to Moroccan writer Said Yaktine's study Al Fikr Al Adabi Al Arabi (Arabic Literary Thought); while Iraqi Keyan Yahya who translated the Meaning of Meaning a linguistic study by Ogden and Richards which was translated for the first time into Arabic after 90 years of being published won the Translation Award. The Arab Culture in Other Languages Award went to Angles et Grandeur by Egyptian author Roshdi Rashed a study written in French on the theories of measurement tracing the history of discussions from Euclid to Kamal Al Din Al Farisi and the Publishing and Technology Award went to Dar Al Saqi a publishing house established in London in 1979 which published a wide spectrum of titles in thought science and art. Launched in 2007 to celebrate and promote literature and thus knowledge and creativity the SZBA is considered one of the biggest such awards in the Arab world. It so far recognised and awarded 60 writers translators literary personalities and publishers from all over the world. "In Abu Dhabi we believe that facing the big challenges starts with knowledge and continues with science culture and with enlightenment" pointed out Dr Ali bin Tamim Secretary-General of SZBA.
Silvia Radan I'm a senior journalist with 22 years experience in all forms of mass media. Originally from Romania I lived and work in Bosnia Uzbekistan England and for the past 10 years in UAE. I specialize in art culture traditions heritage but also environment and the hospitality industry. I'm passionate about jazz and world music cinema mythology and offroading - I'm a marshal with one of UAE's offroading clubs!