ON Saturday night, Egypt's Minister of Social Solidarity Ali Mesilhi and a number of Egyptian cinema stars and writers celebrated what would have been the 92nd birthday of former Minister of Culture Abdel-Moneim el- Sawy. Abdel-Moneim el-Sawy was born on February 20, 1918 in the Nile Delta province of Beheira. After graduating with a BA from Cairo University's Department of Arabic Language and Literature, he worked in journalism and was twice elected chief of the Egyptian Press Syndicate. He enriched Arabic Literature with a numberof fictional and intellectual works. His most famous work is the five-volume novel El-Sakia (The Waterwheel), consisting of ‘The Victim'; ‘Departure'; ‘Destiny'; ‘Repentance'; and lastly ‘Reckoning', which he did not finish. El-Sawy, who became Minister of Culture and Information during the presidency of Anwar Sadat, died on December 7, 1984 in Baghdad, while he was giving a speech about the Palestinian problem. His son, Mohamed, established ‘Sakia Abdel-Moneim el-Sawy' (El-Sawy Culture Centre) seven years ago in the upmarket area of Zamalek, as a cultural mecca for those who love entertainment and culture. It's heavily patronised by Egyptians, Arabs and foreigners alike. The event, held at Sawy Cultural Centre itself, also celebrated the Centre's seventh anniversary. Egyptian stars Ashraf Abdel-Ghaffour, Abdel-Rahman Abou Zahra, Mahmoud Yassin and Ahmed Abdel-Aziz entertained the audience by reading some of the deceased's poems, while Egyptian writers Louis Geres and Baha'a Taher recalled their good times they'd had with the late poet.
