First-ever Arab Intellectual Wins Grinzane Cavour Award

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Italy's prestigious 20-year
old Grinzane Cavour Award, which previously went to 20 world renowned
intellectuals, writers and philosophers, will now be awarded to Arab
intellectual Tarek Heggy at a ceremony in Otranto, Southern Italy on November
8th.
The awarding ceremony will be attended by Italy's Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi, a host of ministers of culture from several European counties as
well as a constellation of Nobel Laureates including Jose Saramago, Nadine
Gordimer, Wole Soyinka and Gunter Grass who all won the Grinzane Cavour Prize
before becoming winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
This year, the Grinzane Cavour Prize will be awarded for the first time in
its history to this Arab leading literary and intellectual figure who built a
fully-integrated enlightenment approach that would later give shape to his
intellectual project with the publication of his first book 30 years ago.
Heggy's intellectual project went through 3 distinct periods: the first
period saw 3 books which dealt a comprehensive critique to the Marxist and
socialist theories and practices while the second phase featured a series of 7
books which give a detailed description and diagnosis of the political and
social, political, economic, cultural and educational problems facing the Arab
World; In the id 1990's, Al-Heggy started to focus on the negative aspects of
the Arab societies' prevailing cultural climate which has its roots in the
highly negative understanding and interpretation of religion which went in
line with extremism in curricula adopted by many Arab educational
institutions.
Besides writing 17 books in Arabic, Heggy repertoire includes 5 books in
English (published during the 3rd period) which dealt with intellectual,
cultural and educational maladies prevailing in most of the Arab cultural
landscapes.
Throughout the last ten years, Heggy's intellectual project gained
visibility at most international institutions and think tanks.. The University
of Toronto decided to establish a permanent annual scholarship for post-
graduate studies in Comparative Jewish/Muslim relations named after Heggy who
also co-established The Coptic Studies Chair at The American University in
Cairo (AUC).
Among Heggy's most recent accomplishments is a cultural enlightenment
project for "Averroes & Maimonides Council", a foundation dedicated to
cultural exchange, being implemented in collaboration with Al Waref Institute
founded by Marah Bukai in Washington D.C.
SOURCE Al Waref Institute

Media Contact, +1-202-368-6380, Grinzane.heggy@gmail.com