UNESCO Award for Algerian Writer & French Academic

Arab Culture Prize Awarded By Unesco To Both Algerian Writer And French Academic

A leading Algerian journalist and a French academic will both be awarded the Sharjah prize for Arab culture this year, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said today.

Algeria's Tahar Ouettar, 82, has written several novels including "The Ace," "The Donkey's Wedding," "The Candle and Dark Tunnels," and helped create the Al-Jamahir and Al-Ahar magazines. He has been president of the cultural association Aljahidhiya since 1989.

A life-long student of the Arabic language and Islam, Michel Lagarde, 66, has translated into French the Kitâb al-Mawâqif ("Livre des Haltes"), by Abd Al-Qâdir al-Djazâirî, one of the leaders of Sufism in the 19th Century. He also translated the Great Commentary of Fahr al-Dîn al-Râzi. He teaches at the Pontifical Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies (PISAI) in Rome, and belongs to the Society of Missionaries of Africa, (White Fathers).

Including a monetary prize of $25,000 each, the awards will be given on September 29 by Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO.

The Sharjah award was created by the Executive Board of UNESCO with funds provided by the Sharjah Government in the United Arab Emirates in 1998 to honour individuals or groups that have contributed in some significant way to the development, dissemination and promotion of Arab culture in the world, as well as the preservation of Arab cultural heritage.

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