I am terribly excited, my darlings. Last week, a press conference was held to announce that the wonderful Algerian-born star Warda is due to sign a new contract in Egypt to produce her new songs composed by Salah El-Sharnoubi and to play the leading role in the new TV series Qaa Al-Madina (Bottom of the City), written by Youssef Maati and directed by Ahmed Saqr to be shown next Ramadan. This will be Warda 's first appearance after a long time of absence. It is lovely to have her back. Her melodious voice has charmed fans all over the Arab world for decades, and she is still going strong. Another round of applause, my dears. Under the auspices of Al-Ahram Chief Editor Osama Saraya, Al-Ahram Foundation held a great celebration for Egyptian veteran film director Youssef Chahine celebrating his 80th birthday. Chahine, one of the Middle East's most prominent filmmakers, has directed countless films often co-produced by French companies and are popular with French and European audiences. Among the dignitaries who attended the celebration were former foreign minister Ahmed Maher ; head of the Foreign Relations Committee at the People's Assembly Mustafa El-Feki ; veteran actors Ezzat El-Alaili ; Salah El-Saadani, talented actor Khaled Saleh ; ravishing actresses Youssra ; Hanan Tork and media figure Mahmoud Saad. Oh my lovelies, excitement was in the air as I and my fun-loving friend Amira El-Nakeeb had a great time at the Goethe Institute, last week. The institute launched the new website Li Lak ( For Me and For You), which gives the chance for both German and Arab youth to have a cross-cultural experience through expressing their own views, ideas and dreams. It was terribly touching my dears. Overcoming the language barrier by translating all the material loaded on the website from German to Arabic and vice versa made matters easier. On this occasion, it organised a garden party in Doqqi featuring the ever-popular West Al-Balad band and the German band Tötörö who rocked through the night, darlings. The young crowd mingled with members of the Tötörö band. Everyone danced and sang along with them. photo: Yousri Aql What great news, my sweets! The Dutch Ambassador in Egypt Tjeerd de Zwaan held a ceremony for Egyptian playwright Lenin El-Ramli at his residence. El-Ramli won the 2005 Prince Claus Award, which is one of Holland's most prestigious prizes, for his entire oeuvre. Zwaan said the importance of this prize is that it is given annually for talented writers across the globe since 1997. Among the attendees were professor of Dutch Literature Mieke Kolk, Presidential Political Adviser Osama El-Baz ; great writers Anis Mansour and Gaber Asfour ; veteran comedian Adel Imam; and actor Ezzat El-Alaili. Under the auspices of Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, head of the Fine Arts Sector, Ahmed Nawwar, cut the ribbon of the second Festival for Silver and Golden Jewellery held at the Gezira Arts Centre. My colleague Ghada Abd El-Kader was most fortunate to attend the festival which runs through 12 February and includes 90 works of a galaxy of jewellery designers who gathered to exhibit their unique collection of designs and treasures. How exciting, my lovelies. The Festival General Commissar Mohamed Rizk pointed out that this year's round aims at highlighting the art of making jewellery with the focus on the talent and creativity of each designer. The examination committee judging the works of the participants included big names in the world of jewellery design such as Azza Fahmi ; Ihsan Nada ; Suzanne El-Masri ; Zeinab Khalifa ; Abdel-Aal Mohamed ; Ahmed Badawi and Mohamed Rizk. For this year, the guest of honour is budding Jordanian artist Lama Murani. photos: Ayman Barayez And on another happy note, the head of the Arab Publishers Union Ibrahim El-Moaalim held a banquet at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, on the occasion of the 38th Cairo International Book Fair. Among other men and women of letters and intellectuals, sweets, who attended the evening were head of the General Egyptian Book Organisation Nasser El-Ansari ; the regional director of Goethe Institute in the Middle East and North Africa Johannes Ebert ; director of Doha Book Fair Abdallah El-Ansari ; novelist and critic Ibrahim Aslan ; Al-Ahram writers Mona Ragab ; Afkar El-Kharadli ; Khayri Ramadan; and media mogul Sanaa Mansour. Congratulations! Speaker of the People's Assembly Ahmed Fathi Sorour has received a Certificate of Recognition from the Association of Egyptian and Arab Writers and Men of Letters, last week. The meeting took place in Sorour 's office where the association's board members presided over by member of the National Specialised Councils Ismail Helmi were present. Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Association Farouk Abdel-Fattah declared that the meeting came to clarify the role of the association in the coming period and to benefit from Sorour 's political experience. Abdel-Fattah added that Sorour 's long- standing parliamentary experience will benefit the youth in all the Egyptian governorates. He was handed the award by head of the Relations Committee in the association Ezzat Mahfouz. Congratulations India! It is with much pride that the Indian Ambassador to Egypt A Gopinathan and his wife hosted a reception party celebrating the 57th anniversary of his great nation's Republic Day. The event was held at the sumptuous surroundings of the Indian Embassy in Cairo. A bevy of luminaries representing the media and artistic worlds were present. Among others were former Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher and his beautiful wife; the Italian Ambassador to Egypt Antonio Badini ; the Defence Attaché at the Embassy of Serbia and Montenegro Dragan Nedeljkovic ; Defence Attaché assistant at the Russian Embassy Sergei Prozorov as well as Defence Attaché Assistant at the Spanish Embassy Sanchez Rojus. It was a memorable day.
