”My Culture My Identity”

As part of “My Culture My Identity” event, the Ministry of Culture held a book fair for the publications of the General Book Authority and archived the event with a ceremony for awarding prizes. This event was held under the patronage of Dr. Lubana Mshaweh, Minister of Culture at Al-Assad National Library in Damascus on the 24th    of November.

The event was opened by Dr. Thaer Zain Al-Din,The  General Director of the Syrian Book Authority, with a speech about the event and its importance .The book fair included many rich and varied books on art, politics, economics and history.

At the end of the book fair, an award ceremony was held, and awards were given to the first three ranks as follows:

 Hanna Mina Prize for Novel

Rashiq Suleiman

Gerges Hourani

Buran Arish

 

Sami Al-Droubi Award for Translation

Muhammad Arab Sasila

Nizar Issa

Mr. Adnan Hassan and Mrs. Chantal Gerges

 

Omar Abu Risha Prize for Poetry

Ibraheem mansour

Firas Muhaithawi

Ghadeer Ismail

 

Child-oriented short story prize

Iman Bazer Bashi

Dawood Al-Fareej

Muhammad Qashmar

 

Child Oriented Painting Award

Naglaa Al Dayeh

Marah taemry

Aya Hammoud

The Judgment committee was also honored at the end of the performance.

The event was concluded with Oud playing.

On the sidelines of the event, Syria Times interviewed Dr. Lubana Mshaweh, Minister of Culture, who spoke about the event:

’’These cultural days are days full of all kinds of literary, artistic and creative productions, all of which fall within the targets  of the Ministry of Culture to embrace creativity and raise a conscious generation that is immune to  terrorism and dark thought that leads to closure’’. ’’ My Culture My Identity ’’ is a varied event rich in literary and artistic products.

When asked about the importance of translations into Arabic, she said:

’’With regard to translation, there has been a large national project for translation since 2012. This project has proven its great effectiveness and activity in translating many rich and important books.

Every year there is a committee that sets a plan for the most important axes to attract translators and publish their productions. Every year we have more than 500 translated books, and this movement is necessary because it helps us open up to the other. It is important so that we can know how to deal with the other and how to affect him and benefit from the others experiences.

Dr. Wael Maarouf, a member of the Judgement committee for the Sami Droubi Award for Translation, spoke to Syria Times about the award:

“The number of participants reached 14 in several languages, French, Spanish, and Russian. These books were varied they contained novels, stories and studies.

Dr. Maarouf explained that the competition criteria is based on the importance of the book translated from its original language and the benefit that  it provides to arab reader in terms of a new culture and knowledge, stressing the importance of getting acquainted with the culture and civilization of others.

Syria Times interviewed  Dr. Sawsan Mualla ’’a member of Judgment committee for child oriented painting award’’ She referred to the high level of the participants in the competition. The competition criteria depended on how to use art, calligraphy and color tools in addition to the technical skill that represent the idea of childhood, play, love and joy.

Syria Times also  interviewed Iman Bazer Bashi

Iman Bazer Bashi who won the first place for the short children story entitled” The Butterfly Nawara” She told us about her participation in the competition. And that the story aims at motivating and guiding  children  to achieve their  goals through constant pursuit, diligence and persistence.

Iman indicated that this  is her first participation in Syria. She  stressed the need to write short stories  for children in an interesting way in order to attract them  to read because today’s child is busy with technology. She also mentioned that she she has written two short stories for children and they will be Published soon by Al-Bayan Foundation for Printing and Publishing in Scotland .

Sanaa Hasan