2014 Manhae Grand Prize Awardees Determined

Ashraf Dalithe, one of the awardees of the Manhae Grand Prize 2014, is standing next to the statue of Manhae in the fall, 2012.

Ashraf Dali, the president of the Asia Journalist Association (AJA) Middle East chapter was determined as one of the awardees of the Manhae Grand Prize 2014 in the field of arts and literature. The judging committee for the Manhae Grand Prize met in June 30th to select not only Ashraf Dali but also the Iranian movie director Mohsen Makhmalbaf and the calligrapher Yoon Yang-Hui for the Manhae Grand Prize in arts and literature; the House of Sharing, a home for Korean comfort women, for the Manhae Grand Prize in peace; and lawyer Lee Se-Jung for the Manhae Grand Prize in action. The special prize was awarded to the citizens who participated in the ‘Yellow Envelope Campaign,’ which was held by ‘Hand in Hand’ for the workers who were fired from Ssangyong Motor.

The Manhae Grand Prize was established in 1997 to commemorate the life, achievements, and ideas of Manhae Han Yong-Un (1879~1944), the nationalist, monk, thinker, and poet during the Japanese occupation of Korea. Major awardees of the Manhae Grand Prize include former South African president Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, former Korean president Kim Dae-Jung, Iranian lawyer and Nobel Prize laureate in Peace Shrin Ebadi, and former Anglican bishop Kim Sung-Soo in the field of peace; Chinese author and Nobel Prize laureate in Literature Mo Yan, Kuwaiti princess Souad al-Sabah, the Nigerian playwright, poet, and Nobel Prize laureate in Literature Wole Soyinka, and the former Korean Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism Lee O-Young in arts and literature; and the Head of the Cambodian Landmine Museum Aki Ra, the Federation of Nepali Journalists (FNJ), and the Director of Maiti Nepal Anuradha Koirala in action. The prize money for each field is one hundred million won, and the award ceremony will be held on the afternoon of August 12th at the Inje Cultural Complex.

Dali is a successful author and a journalist in Egypt.

Ashraf Dali (1963~) is one of the most active writers and journalists in Egypt.
He graduated from the department of English literature in Benha University, and began his career in 1990 as the editor-in-chief of the Egyptian Magazine Al-Manar. Since then, he has been the editor of several media, including the Omani magazines Arabian Advertising and Nizwa, and the culture department of Reuters in Egypt. He currently is the editor of the Kuwaiti Al-Arabi Magazine as well as the managing chief editor of the Arabic version of AsiaN, and has contributed to the cooperation of Arabian countries and the exchange between civilizations through his journalism.
Dali is also a successful author. Since the publication of his first book of poetry, Washwashat Al Bahr (Whispers of the Sea), Dali has been a prolific novelist and poet. He has interpreted the varieties of the Arabian world in literary form, in both poems and novels, thereby building bridges between the Arabian and non-Arabian civilizations. To encounter various Asian cultures first-hand so as to integrate them into his literature, Dali has traveled to over 40 countries, such as Korea and China in East Asia; Thailand and Indonesia in Southeast Asia; Central Asian countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan, and Tatarstan; and West Asian countries including India and Pakistan. In his journeys, he has studied native languages and people, sublimating his experience into his poetry and bringing together different, separate civilizations.

Dali, with his insight and international experience, has spread Arabian literature by publishing poetry, travel journals, and novels in the Al-Arabi, a magazine in Arabic that sells over 150 thousand copies in 17 Arab nations such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, in 21 Middle Eastern countries such as Turkey and Iran, and 23 Western nations including the United States of America, Great Britain, and France.
Ashraf Dali’s works have been introduced to the readers of Spain, Russia, Turkey, Italia, Persia, and Korea. He has also propagated great literature from Korea, Russia, and India to the Arab world. These accomplishments were only possible because of Dali’s dedication to bring interchange between Arabian and non-Arabian, Eastern and Western civilizations.
Since 2009, Dali has been poetry which visualized the worlds of children from the Silk Road and from various Arab nations in Al-Arabi. His piece is being issued not only in Egypt but also in Jordan, Syria, and many other countries. Such is the influence of Dali’s literature.
While Dali has traveled to and influenced numerous nations, he has a special bond with Korea. He has translated Ko Un’s book of poetry, Ten Thousand Lives, in Arabic. That he renamed it One Thousand Lives as a reference to the famous One Thousand and One Nights, with which the Arabian readership is familiar with, reveals Dali’s literary depth and understanding.

By introducing Arabian literature to Korea, Ashraf Dali has contributed to cultural exchange between Arab nations and Korea. His devotion to bring together the literature of Asia and the world is analogous to Manhae Han Yong-Un’s aspiration to produce happiness for mankind through literature. Ashraf Dali, as the Middle Eastern Branch Manager of the international organization AJA and the editor-in-chief of the Arabic version of AsiaN, is working to stimulate interchange in both journalism and literature.

Translated by Jin Gyu Lee

Jin Gyu Lee is a student of Korean Minjok Leadership Academy.