♣ The Korean Embassy in Cairo held a Korean literature evening entitled “Highlight on Korean Literature” at the Misr Public Library in Dokki. Over the course of the evening the Arabic translation of Kyung-sook Shin's novel Please Look After Mom, published in 2008, was discussed. The story of a mother and her family's search for her after she goes missing in a crowded train station — told through four richly imagined voices: her daughter's, her eldest son's, her husband's, and finally her own — the book, the author's first to appear in English, is already a million-plus-copy bestseller in Korea; it has appeared in over 15 countries. The keynote speakers were novelist Abdu Gubier, professor at the Academy of Arts Yasser Allam and Supreme Council for Culture Writer's Right Bureau supervisor Nouran Fouad. On the fringe of the event, the Korean Ambassador to Egypt Young-so Kim and Cultural Counsellor Park Jae Yang inaugurated an exhibition entitled “Photos of Korea” which showcases 38 photos of the most famous site-seeing venues in South Korea. At the end of the event, the audience was treated to a Korean feast. ♥ Omani Ambassador to Egypt Sheikh Ali bin Khalifa Al-Harithi gave a reception at the Four Seasons Nile Plaza Hotel to celebrate the 42nd Omani National Day. Present were Secretary-General of the Arab League Nabil Al-Arabi, former secretary-general of the Arab League Amr Moussa, Minister of Culture Saber Arab, Minister of Youth Farouk Al-Amri, German Ambassador to Egypt Michael Bock, Saudi Ambassador to Egypt Ahmed Al-Qattan, Moroccan Ambassador to Egypt Mohamed Farag Al-Dokali, Lebanese Ambassador to Egypt Khaled Ziyada and his Tunisian counterpart Mahmoud Al-Khoumeri, as well as singer Ali Al-Haggar, actress Magda Zaki and Maestro Gaber Al-Beltagui. ♠ The Egyptian-Turkish Businessmen Association welcomed Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to a lavish reception at the Semiramis InterContinental Hotel in the Tiba Hall. Present were Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Kandil, Foreign Minister Kamel Amr, Investment Minister Osama Saleh, Youth Minister Osama Yassin as well as their Foreign and Investment counterparts from Turkey and Turkish Ambassador to Egypt Héseyin Avni Botsali, businessmen Farid Khamis, Hassan Rateb, Mustafa Hassan and Adel Gizareen. ¨ The Director of the Catholic Centre for Egyptian Cinema, Father Boutros Daniel — jointly with Goodwill Ambassador and President of the Travellers for Art and Creativity Association Atef Abdel-Latif — visited Lebanon to pay a visit to veteran singer Wadie Al-Safi in hospital. Daniel and Abdel-Latif handed Al-Safi an honorary shield in recognition of his artistic achievement in a ceremony that also saw pop singer Nancy Agram honoured for her new album. ♣ The Nile Lions Club (NLC), presided over by artist Samir Sabri, organised a celebration to honour various artists for their 2012 work. Among the honourees were Syrian actor Gamal Suleiman, actresses Lebleba, Nabila Ebeid, Elham Shahine, Youssra Al-Louzi and Sabrine, TV presenter Poussy Shalabi, actors Nidal Al-Shafei and Hassan Al-Raddad, journalist Lamis Gaber and director Medhat Al-Sebai. ♥ The Third Festival of Arab Satellite Channels, held under the auspices of the Arab Producers and the Actors Syndicate, opened with a prestigious celebration at the Media Production City in 6 October. The president of the festival Ahmed Elewa announced actor Khaled Saleh as the guest of honour for the third round of the festival, while actors Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz, Ahmed Al-Sakka, Mahmoud Abdel-Moghni, Amr Youssef, Eiad Nassar, Ahmed Rizk, Karim Mahmoud Abdel-Aziz, Mohamed Adel Imam, Amir Karara, Tarek Lotfi, Omar Zahran and Elham Shahine were honoured. ♣ Veteran singer Afaf Radi gave a concert at the Cairo Opera House Main Hall celebrating the Child Day with the participation of trumpet player Mohamed Helmi and the Children's Choir of the Opera Talents Development Centre. Radi is well-known for exceptionally beautiful songs for children. ♠ A collection of cocktail, soiree and wedding gowns by internationally acclaimed Lebanese designer Tony Yaacoub rocked the catwalk at the Ramses Hilton Hotel. Actress Nabila Ebeid, TV anchor Soheir Shalabi and Garden City Lions Club head Awatef Serageddin together with a large number of senior state officials, media figures and society ladies all attended, including the ambassadors of Al-Gabon, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and the wife of the Italian ambassador. The fashion show was organised by Onsi Barakat, Ramses Hilton International Event director, and guests were warmly welcomed by Amal Rateb and Maha Al-Qadi from the Public Relations office. (see Living p.28) ¨ Over 1,000 IMDB users voted for the Egyptian film Asmaa (2011) up to the second ranking on the website's rating list. Asmaa was registered on IMDB through Dollar Film (New Century Production); it had achieved a significant presence during its screenings at several regional and international film festivals, and it continues to inspire audiences all across the world. It tells the story of an HIV positive woman — a widow and a single mother — who has been living in secrecy and shame, hiding the truth about her disease not only from her neighbours and co-workers but from her very own daughter. The director and writer of the film, Amr Salama, received the award of Best Arab Director in the New Horizons Competition at the fifth Abu Dhabi Film Festival. Asmaa also won three awards from the Peace Film Festival in Hollywood namely: Best Actress to Hend Sabri, for her role as Asmaa, best director to Salama, and best actor to Maged Al-Kidwani. It also won the Golden Prize in the Eastern Film Festival in Geneva, Switzerland, receiving a total of 15 festival awards so far. ♣ “Christopher Columbus, the Famous Explorer discovered a dark seed in Mexico that he brought home without knowing what it was used for. But in 1519 the Spanish explorer Fernando Courtez discovered that America's inhabitants presented it to their tribe leaders in the form of a hot drink...” This is how the history of chocolate is narrated, with pictures, on one poster in the Chocolate Museum in El Sawy Culturewheel, which was inaugurated on Wednesday 21 November and concluded its activities on 27 November — part of the 10th Chocolate Festival or “Chocofest”. The museum displays illustrations of the phases of manufacturing chocolate in simple language for children to follow. It also narrates the history of chocolate explaining how it was discovered and when, with maps that illustrate the countries producing chocolate. It includes simplified scientific information about chocolate. According to Marwa Sami, festival co-coordinator, the aim of the museum is “to help children know in a simplified and scientific way how chocolate came to existence.” ♥ To commemorate the birthdays of Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Jawaharlal Nehru, the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture organised the prize distribution function for the annual Glimpses of India paining competition for 2012 on 22 November 2012 in the presence of Indian Ambassador to Egypt Navdeep Suri; Egyptian singer Iman Al-Bahr Darwish was the guest of honour. The First Undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture Camellia Sobhi and the Art Education Counsellor at the Ministry of Education Mohamed Naguib Al-Babli were also present. A minute of silence was observed as a mark of respect for the children who lost their lives in the Assiut train accident. Around 4,500 children from 437 schools participated in the competitions and over 100 winners in different categories were given prizes and certificates during the function. ª “Between Colours and Transparencies: Mosaics and Glasses”, an exhibition of mosaic and glass artworks created by artists Ketty Abdel-Malek and Pisso Boutros Ghali, was inaugurated at the Italian Cultural Institute in Zamalek.
