Asilah Cultural Festival: Tchicaya U Tam'Si Prize awarded to Cape Verde Poet Vera Duarte
Morocco, Culture, 8/15/2001

The Tchicaya U Tam'Si Prize was awarded to Cape Verde Poet Vera Duarte at a ceremony in Asilah Monday, on the sidelines of the twenty-third international cultural festival of Asilah.

The prize, named after Congolese poet and playwright Felix Tchicaya U Tam'Si who passed away in 1989, is awarded by the Arab-African cultural forum, held part of the Asilah festival.

Several participants at the awarding ceremony hailed Vera Duarte's poetry work and her original usage of accurate and deep images to depict daily life and uphold women's rights.

In a statement to MAP, Vera Duarte hailed the actions initiated by King Mohammed VI to ensure the kingdom's development and progress, laying a special emphasis on the sovereign's keen interest in women-related issues.

She also underlined the role of culture in fostering rapprochement between peoples, singling out the Asilah festival contribution to this rapprochement. She said the festival is the only event in the world that awards a prize to African poetry.

Vera Duarte, 49, is general prosecutor and also holds the position of presidential advisor. This human rights activist is member of the Cape Verde writers' union.

The Asilah festival, held Under the aegis of King Mohammed VI, features colloquies, paintings and engravings exhibitions, music shows by artists from Brazil, Hungary, Iraq, Portugal, Senegal, Spain, Syria and Tunisia and other cultural activities.

The festival--running till the end of August--is attended by intellectuals, searchers and artists from Algeria, Bahrain, Belgium, Benin, Cape Verde, Chile, China, Congo-Brazzaville, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Spain, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and the United States.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco attends world youth festival in Algiers   (8/7/2001)
  Festival of Mediterranean folk arts held in nador   (8/3/2001)
  Asilah cultural festival to kick off Friday   (8/2/2001)

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