Businessman Naguib Sawiris announced adding a poetry category to his annual Sawiris Literature Award, to be named after late great Egyptian vernacular poet Ahmed Fouad Negm, who died early last month.
The award is worth LE100,000.
This came during a memorial service held by the Culture Ministry in the name of Negm, and was held at the Opera House.
The memorial was attended by many figures in the culture and literary scene, including the head of the Opera House Enas Abdel Dayem, writer Ibrahim Dawood, Television producer and writer Mohamed al-Adl, film director Magdy Ahmed Ali, and many other intellectuals and poets from different generations.
It was also attended by politicians, such like former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy and Khaled Ali.
Negm was celebrated for being one of the most prominent vernacular poets or our time.
He is known for his simple worded, mostly political, poetry. He was imprisoned several times due to his stance toward senior politicians and different successive regimes in Egypt.
In addition to many books of poetry, Negm's most renowned legacy, however, is teaming up with Egyptian folk singer Sheikh Imam in the seventies. They created together many songs that have turned into revolutionary anthems for many generations.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
