WOW President Russian poet Margarita Al presented the Gold Medal to Poet Adel Khozam on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi International Book Fair
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi International Book Fair witnessed the ceremony of awarding the Emirati poet Adel Khozam WOW (World Organization of Writers) Gold Medal for winning the first prize in the literary prose category for his book ‘The Philosopher’s Mail’.
The President of the organization, the Russian poet Margarita Al, presented Adel the diploma and the medal on the sidelines of the fair’s activities.
On this occasion, Margarita said, “On behalf of the World Organization of Writers (WOW) and on behalf of the LIFFT Eurasian Literary Festival, I am pleased to meet the poet and writer, Mr Adel Khozam, as one of the symbols of modern literature in the United Arab Emirates, and to present to him the gold medal in prose, in his honor and appreciation for his exceptional book (The Philosopher’s Mail), which I am pleased to announce will be published soon by the LIFFT Publishing House in Moscow as part of the Golden Series of the house’s publications. I am happy to meet him personally in Abu Dhabi, and I hope that this celebration will be the beginning of a fruitful cooperation for the organization with the Emirates’ writers and cultural institutions.”
She added that WOW seeks to build bridges of communication between the world’s writers, as it had previously organized its annual conference in Russia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Egypt, and Nigeria. Its awards in prose and poetry were won by a number of the world’s most prominent poets and writers:
“Next year we aspire to hold our conference in the UAE, which has become a global symbol of the culture of openness and tolerance among peoples.”
In turn, poet Adel Khozam expressed his happiness with this award, pointing out that it expresses the level of development of Emirati literature and its ability to reach the international level, noting at the same time the importance of literature as an essential element in building the soft power of countries. Khozam dedicated this victory to the UAE, whose open cultural climate contributed to the establishment of conscious generations of writers capable of conveying the UAE’s cultural message to the world. Regarding the nature of the winning book (The Philosopher’s Mail), he pointed out that it contains a collection of prose philosophical texts that address existential topics in the form of new and unprecedented questions that reach the philosopher via mail, and he responds to them in a prose and poetic style.
It is noteworthy that the announcement of the WOW Awards came during its 7th edition of the festival and the first WOW Congress in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, on the fourth April 2024, in the presence of the Minister of Information and National Guidance, Mr. Idris Malaji.
____________
