Ashraf Aboul-Yazid conferred the Esteemed Patron of the Arts Award by PAWA

(From left): Ashraf Aboul-Yazid, President of , Asia Journalist Association (AJA), Dr. Wale Okediran, General Secretary of PAWA (Nigeria), Mr. John Rusimbi, President of PAWA (Rwanda) and Camillus Chima Ukah, President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).

IBADAN: Egyptian poet, novelist and journalist Ashraf Aboul-Yazid, has been conferred the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) its golden medal of Esteemed Patron of the Arts Award, during the Award Ceremony Night that concluded the African Literature Conference 2022 in Ibadan University, Nigeria (23-26 June 2022).

The medal has prominent engraved portraits of Naguib Mahfouz, the Egyptian writer who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature, John M. Coetzee, the South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature,  Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian novelist, poet, and critic who is regarded as the dominant figure of modern African literature, Nadine Gordimer, the South African writer and political activist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1991, Wole Soyinka, the Nigerian playwright, novelist, poet, and essayist who was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize in Literature, Salim Ahmed Salim,  the Tanzanian politician and diplomat who has worked in the international diplomatic arena since the early 1960s, Festus Iyayi, the Nigerian leftist writer, best known for advancing his politics through realist novels, Mamadou Traoré Diop, the example of a poet involved in all liberation struggles in Africa, Omar Salem, the Arab poet and diplomat, and Daniel Francis Kweipe Annan, the speaker of the Parliament of Ghana.

The golden medal of Esteemed Patron of the Arts Award

The award certificates and medals have been given to figures of African literature, of poets, writers, critics and professors. Dr. Wale Okediran, General Secretary of PAWA, called the Sudanese poet Al Fatih Hamditou, Vice President of the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) for North Africa, to deliver the certificate and award medal to the only Arab awardees in this ceremony. The awardees included Dr. Wale Okediran, General Secretary of PAWA (Nigeria), Mr. John Rusimbi, President of PAWA (Rwanda) and Camillus Chima Ukah, President of the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA).

Ashraf Aboul-Yazid, member of the Egyptian Writers Union, has been previously awarded by Manhae Grand Prize in Literature, The Republic of Korea (2014), Arab Journalism Award in Culture, UAE (2015), and the Gold Medal in LIFFT Eurasian Literary Festival, Istanbul (2021).

He worked in Cultural Journalism for more than 30 years in Arabic publications and agencies including Al Arabi Magazine, Kuwait, 2002- 2016, Reuters, Cairo, 2002, Adab wa Naqd Literary Magazine, Cairo, 2001-2002, Nizwa Literary Magazine, Muscat, 1998 – 2001, Arabian Ad Agency, Muscat, 1992-1998 and Al-Manar, Cairo 1985 – 1992. He authored and translated 42 books.

He is currently the president, Asia Journalist Association (AJA), Editor in Chief of THE SILK ROAD LITERATURE SERIES and Vice President of The Congress of African Journalists (CAJ).