By Lubna Abdel-Aziz Shortage of fresh water in Egypt has prompted the authorities recently to issue strict directives against water waste, which could lead to imprisonment. Photographer Sherif Sonbol wonders if the man in the photo might soon have to give up using water to cool down the area in front of his shop or face severe penalty. Prominent writer and Head of the Arab Writers Union Mohamed Salmawy has arrived this week in Italy to attend the signing ceremony of his latest publication, a collection of short stories, Shagar Al-Gemaiz, or The Sycamore, L'albero di Sicomoro in Italian. The event for the publishing of this work's Italian translation was originally to be held during the Turin Book Fair, but because of the Writers' Union's boycott of this round, the Italian publisher decided to hold a special signing ceremony in Naples, the home of the Osaya Publishing House. The book has been translated by Italian Arabist Maria Louisa Albano. Born in Cairo with a strong passion for writing, 10-year-old fourth-grader Jannah Gohar has become the youngest Egyptian novelist. Today, Gohar will present her first novel titled, Sharktanic, named after the American blockbuster Titanic, at Kotob Khan Library in New Maadi. Inspired by her mother, the gifted novelist is supported by all her family members; her sister Nadia made the illustrations of the book and her brother Nour designed the website graphics at www.sharktanic.com. The novel tells the story of a group of sharks that inhabit a drowned ship where they learn important lessons through a series of adventures and situations. Gohar said her future novel, titled The Third World War... The War of Cats and Dogs, will be about a cat and a dog that, metaphorically speaking, agree on calling off the war between them, only to be sucked back into fighting with each other. Currently, she is working on a book titled, The Book of Virtue, which teaches children good manners in a humorous way. On 2 June, the ninth round of the Modern Dance Theatre Festival is due to be inaugurated by Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, Director of the Cairo Opera House artist Abdel-Moneim Kamel, and President of the festival Walid Aouni. Running through 21 June, the shows will be performed at the Opera House's different venues in Cairo and Alexandria. For this year, five art critics and artists are scheduled to be honoured, including media figure Salma El-Shamaa, plastic artist Salah Marei and critic Abla El-Roweini. At the opening ceremony, a documentary of the life of the godfather of modern dance in the 20th century, French ballet choreographer Maurice Bejart, will be screened. Bejart 's memory is being honoured as he passed away at the age of 80 on 22 November 2007. The festival will open with the dance show, Scheherazade Monaliza, directed by Aouni with music by Rimsky Korsakov. In conjunction with the Integrated Care Society's Nasr City Public Library, the Japan Society for Arts and Culture organised an Ikebana Presentation and Demonstration on 24 May at the library. The Ikebana flower arrangements were demonstrated by Ikebana International Cairo Prospective Chapter member Chiemi Kitada, who has a high-level teaching degree from the Sogetsu School of Ikebana in Tokyo. The event was organised by head of the Nasr City Library Mona Bakr, in the library's main hall, and was attended by a large number of people who enjoyed learning about the unique Japanese art of Ikebana and took pleasure in viewing the sophisticated arrangements. Under the auspices of Culture Minister Farouk Hosni and in the presence of President of the Academy of Arts Esmat Yehia, the Higher Institute of Arts Criticism celebrated its fifth anniversary at the Cairo Opera House's Small Hall. On this occasion, Dean of the institute Mustafa Yehia honoured Director of the Cairo Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel among others. Those honoured from Al-Ahram include the newspaper's Editor-in-Chief Osama Saraya, back page editor Mona Ragab and theatre critic Amal Bakir. Also head of the Supreme Council of Culture Ali Abu Shadi received a merit certificate among other luminaries in the arts field. At the Four Seasons Nile Plaza Hotel, a lavish evening tagged The Golden Dream was organised by Lazorde for gold industry, in cooperation with the Women's Association for Development and Heritage, presided over by Samia Abul-Fotouh. The distinctive evening witnessed an exhibition of the latest fashion designs for gold made by Lazorde, as well as cocktail and wedding gowns by international fashion designer Hani El-Beheiri. The entire cachet of the evening went to support medical needs for children. The event was attended by a bevy of public figures, including spouse of the head of the People's Assembly Fathi Sorour, spouse of the chief of presidential staff Zakaria Azmi, spouse of the Cairo Opera House director, Erminia Kamel and head of the Garden City Lions Club, Awatef Serageddin. Also present were Tahani Halawa from Al-Ahram, Nisf Al-Donia magazine Editor-in-Chief Afkar El-Kharadli, Al-Ahram back page editor Mona Ragab, Nahed Hamza, Mona Nashaat, Magda Barsoum, media figure Soheir Shalabi, as well as actresses Nabila Ebeid, Nadia El-Guindi, Dalia El-Beheiri, Bushra, Abeer Sabri and Lebleba. On 3 June, American sociologist Craig Calhoun, who has been president of the New York-based Social Science Research Council (SSRC) since 1999 and professor of social sciences at New York University, will deliver a lecture titled, "The Idea of Emergency: Humanitarian Action and Global Disorder", at the American University in Cairo's Oriental Hall. The lecture is jointly organised by AUC's School of Humanities and Social Sciences and the universities of Minnesota and Toronto. Calhoun will also take part in a three- day graduate student workshop on religion and humanitarianism sponsored by the Luce Foundation and SSRC, as well as the three organising universities. A formal letter was received by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, chairperson of the board of trustees of the foundation of the Children's Cancer Hospital Egypt (CCHE), to congratulate her of the awarding of the hospital the WHO's United Arab Emirates Health Foundation prize for 2008. The award was announced during the World Health Assembly ceremony on 22 May. Meanwhile, managing director of the Suez Cement group of companies, Roberto Callieri, and Executive Manager of 57357 Children's Cancer Hospital, Dr Mahmoud El-Tohami, have signed an agreement for the donation of 600 tonnes of cement that will be used for the construction of a new building for the hospital. The building is to house the cyclotron, a special device used for cancer therapy that enhances personalised cancer treatment. Suez Cement and its affiliated companies have already donated almost all the quantity of cement used to build the hospital, which is one of the largest hospitals in the world dedicated to paediatric cancer care.
