Kuwait News Reports Ashraf Dali, 2014 Manhae Grand Prize Awardees

Kuwait's newspaper Al-Rai reported Ashraf Dali who is a 2014 Manhae Grand Prize Awardees. (Photo: Kuwait Al-Rai Newspaper)

Kuwait’s newspaper Al-Rai reported Ashraf Dali who is a 2014 Manhae Grand Prize Awardees.

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.

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.

By introducing Arabian literature to Korea, Ashraf Dali has contributed to cultural exchange between Arab nations and 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. 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.

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.