CAIRO: A renowned member of the Swedish Academy, Professor Sture Allén, is set to visit Egypt next week to celebrate the centennial celebration of the birth of Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz. Mahfouz, the first Arabic language Nobel Prize laureate, became a Nobel winner in 1988. Allén will be in Egypt from October 15-19 to celebrate the centennial of one of the most prominent literary figures in the Arab world. Allén was the Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy and member of the literary committee of Nobel Prize Foundation, the same year Mahfouz was awarded the Nobel Prize. Allén will hold two lectures, one at the American University in Cairo, and another at the Bibliotheca Alexandria. The Swedish Embassy in Cairo, along with the aforementioned venues, have worked together to bring Allén's lecture on “The Nobel Prize and Naguib Mahfouz in Translation” to Egypt. “Naguib Mahfouz, being the first Arabic speaking author to receive the Nobel Prize in literature, has through his works indeed contributed to opening up the huge treasure of Egyptian culture for the Western world,” said Malin Kärre, Swedish Ambassador in Cairo. “This year, as we celebrate Mahfouz's 100th anniversary, the Embassy of Sweden pays homage to his heritage and we are glad that Professor Sture Allén visits Egypt on this occasion,” the Ambassador added. The Bibliotheca Alexandria lecture will be held on October 17 and the AUC Press in Cairo on October 18. Allén is also scheduled to meet the members of Mahfouz's family. Together with Egyptian novelist Gamal El-Ghitany, Allén will visit Old Cairo's Al-Gammaleya quarter. The quarter is a major component of most of Mahfouz's novels. Mahfouz was a brilliant writer who had politics at the heart of every novel he wrote. According to him, it is politics, not love, at “the very axis of our thinking.” BM
