The calm/quiet poet is the doctor. Haitham Al-Haj Ali, an Egyptian writer, poet, and contemporary Arabic sheikh, works as a professor of modern Arabic literature at the Faculty of Arts, Helwan University.
He was born in Shebin El-Kom, Menoufia Governorate, on September 9, 1970. He received his education in the city of Shebin El-Kom. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts, Department of Arabic Language, Menoufia University, May 1992, with a very good grade. He obtained a Master’s degree in Literary Studies. Department of Arabic Language, Faculty of Arts, Helwan University 1999, and submitted a thesis entitled: “Experimentation Techniques in the Short Story of Youssef Al-Sharouni,” with an excellent grade. He obtained a doctorate in literary studies, Department of Arabic Language, Faculty of Arts, Helwan University 2005, for his thesis. : “Mechanisms of constructing time in the Egyptian short story in the sixties,” with first-class honors.
He presented to the Arab Library a group of important books and studies, including but not limited to: Narrative Techniques in the Poetry of Amal Dunqul, which came to light in a special issue.. He also presented research on metaphor as a narrative technique, entitled: Metaphor and its Employment in the Short Story of Muhammad Hafez Rajab, and research on the eloquence of the narrative place in the novel Al-Khamasin by Ghaleb Hilsa, and a study on new forms of reception and their problems in Arab culture. This research came as a new attempt to establish a foundational monitoring of the mechanisms The accompanying narrative work by Naguib Mahfouz and Sayed Al-Wakil was published in Alef magazine issued by the American University in Cairo. He presented a research paper entitled: “Manuscripts and Tolerance” at the Second International Scientific Conference of the College of Arts and Humanities, Mohammed Bin Zayed University, and published a research paper on Youssef Al-Shawarni entitled: “Mechanisms of Time in the Short Story of Youssef Al-Sharouni” at the conference held by the Supreme Council of Culture to celebrate the creativity of Youssef Al-Sharouni, and presented research on metaphor and the intimacy of communication, a study of the stories of Muhammad Hafez Rajab at the West and Central Delta Cultural Conference for the year 2022, and a study on the short story and the identity crisis in The Literature Conference between Identity and Transformations, and research on memory and death, and the movement of the narrative image in Tal Al-Nar by Youssef Abu Rayya, while talking about the journey of narrative and narrative art according to Youssef Abu Rayya, and research on the art of expressing the crisis, on the features of narrative in the West and Central Delta region, and research On the impact of the short story on the postmodern novel in Egypt, research on analytical readings on the mechanisms of experimentation and innovation, research on those who changed from the short story to the novel, on the trends of modern Arab social criticism, research on the role of cultural magazines and their role in the Gulf cultural scene, and a study on awareness On place in the Gulf novel, he presented a paper on the anniversary of the Tunisian revolution, a paper on the state of intellectual property rights in Egypt, research on the techniques of the expatriate narrator in three Egyptian novels, research on the creative medium and the form of the narrator in the novel, research on genre techniques, and he also presented the introductory paper. At the Al-Qurain Cultural Forum in Kuwait, which was titled: Culture and Economy, Towards a New Relationship and Mutual Development.
Dr. Haitham participated in preparing the Egyptian Cultural Status Report 1980-2010, and participated in preparing the Egyptian Cultural Status Report 2011-2015.
Membership of scientific committees and societies:
He obtained membership in a group of committees and scientific societies, including: membership in the national team for preparing the national report on digital development in Egypt, Ministry of Communications, 2022, and membership in the “Culture in Your Hands” initiative committee, Ministry of Culture, in 2022. 2020Membership in the scientific material research committee to issue the book “Cairo, Capital of Islamic Culture” in 2020, membership in the committee coordinating the activities of the “Port Said Capital of Egyptian Culture” program in 2020, membership in the Supreme Committee of the National Theater Festival for its thirteenth session in 2020 until its fifteenth session in 2022, and membership in The Supreme Committee for Legislative Reform at the Ministry of Culture 2019Membership in the Supreme Council for Pre-University Education, Ministry of Education: 2016-2018, membership in the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Cultural Center – Cairo Opera House, Egyptian Ministry of Culture, 2016-2018, and membership in the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Public Library from 2017 to 2022Membership in the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Publishers Union from 2015 until 2022Membership in the Arts Sector Committee of the Supreme Council of Universities, Ministry of Higher Education 2015-2018, membership in the Council of the Faculty of Al-Alsun, Ain Shams University 2017-2019, membership in the Permanent Committee for Selection of Leaders at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, membership in the Permanent Committee for Selection of Leaders at the Egyptian Academy of Arts, and membership in the Permanent Committee for Selection Leaders in the Egyptian Cultural Center, the Egyptian Opera House, membership in the permanent committee for selecting leaders in the Egyptian General Authority for Cultural Palaces, membership in the Board of Directors of the Scientific Center for Translation – Faculty of Arts, Helwan University since 2018, and membership in the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Society for Literary Criticism since 2009.
He also chaired a group of scientific committees, such as: the Research Committee of the Egyptian Writers Conference, the General Authority for Cultural Palaces, Alexandria 2009.
He became Acting Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Culture from November 2016 until April 2017. He also assumed the position of Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian General Book Authority from June 2014 until October 2015, and became Acting Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian General Book Authority since October. 2015 Until October 2022, and managing the Cairo International Book Fair from the 47th session in 2016 until the 53rd session in 2021.
Awards and honors:
Dr. Haitham Al-Haj Ali received a number of awards, including receiving an honorary professorship from Ningxia State University of China in September 2019.
The Tunisian Minister of Culture also honored him at the opening of the first Carthage Poetry Forum in March 2018, and he was honored by the Al-Masa’i Al-Mashkoura Association for Menoufia Scholars in February 2018, and he was honored by the Arab Publishers Union at the meeting of directors of Arab book fairs on the sidelines of the Kuwait International Book Fair, October 2017. He was also honored by the Supreme Constitutional Court in 2023.
Under his leadership, the Chinese House of Wisdom also received two awards from the Cairo International Book Fair in its 55th session for the Best Literary Criticism Book Award for the year 2024, for my book: Cultural Criticism by researcher Medhat Safwat, and Textual Coherence in Arabic Poetry by Dr. Hossam Gayel.
Rumbling and body
As for his term as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian General Book Authority, Dr. Haitham took a number of measures that changed the course of work within the Authority, and changed the direction of the book and publishing industry in Egypt. He developed the printing presses of the General Book Authority, and this helped change the old idea known about it. So that it became a competitor in the field of commercial printing to others, as during his reign the Authority contracted to print all publications of the Culture Palaces Authority, for the first time in its history.
As for his work as an administrator, Dr. Haitham took a complete inventory of the book stores and put their contents on a digital program. This program allowed us to begin exploiting the book stores well and making them available to the public, developing appropriate marketing plans, and providing those working on them with accurate and specific information. Based on that, Dr. began. Haitham launched the “Your Culture, Your Book” initiative in 2021, and offered old books at reasonable prices, ranging from one to twenty pounds, in all of the Authority’s outlets, which greatly expanded the sales circle and restored the demand for purchases from the Authority’s outlets in large quantities. He also began implementing a project “Your Book Kiosk”, to increase the number of the Authority’s outlets in the villages included in the development of the Decent Life Initiative and to begin establishing 79 kiosks in the first year only.
Dr. launched. Haitham has a collection of new series that keep pace with the requirements of young people, such as: a series of pocket books, each of which specializes in introducing a branch of knowledge, and is assigned to be written by a group of senior specialists in these sciences. He ordered the issuance of this series at a low price not exceeding five pounds. .
Collaboration Dr. Haitham with young artists, in order to issue new types of books within the Authority. These books represent a new art that has not been published before, which is the art of comics. He issued special books directed to children, such as: issuing the Vision series for children, and coloring books, which were presented in an innovative way, and at prices It does not exceed ten pounds so that everyone can obtain it. He also issued a special series entitled: Stories of Children and the Land to introduce the personalities of the Egyptian martyrs, and connect children to their identity and homeland. He presented puzzle books, which were directed to pre-school children, and issued special books for young people concerned with ancient Egyptian civilization.
This great activity, which ignited the pace of work in full swing, helped change the general vision of the organization by opening the door for young writers to participate in publishing their works in a number of series and magazines, such as: New Writings Series, Colloquial Poetry Series, Funoon Magazine, Science and Life Magazine, and Mashri’ah. October Heroes, “Tales of Victory,” and other series that opened their doors to young writers.
He also cooperated with the Egyptian Ministry of Endowments to issue the Vision for Enlightened Thought series, which was issued in Arabic and various foreign languages, and printed in medium sizes so that everyone could purchase it. It was written by the Young Writers Group under the supervision of the Egyptian Ministry of Endowments and Al-Azhar Al-Sharif and in cooperation with the National Bank. And Dar Al-Hilal, to issue a low-cost edition of the Encyclopedia of Description of Egypt, and to issue a reduced edition of the book The Personality of Egypt by Jamal Hamdan as part of the Family Library Publications.
He also developed the authority’s sales outlet in Shorouk City and reopened it. This helped increase the authority’s assets by more than one hundred million Egyptian pounds, by allocating the children’s library in Shorouk.
He cooperated with Serbian publishing houses and the Catholic Center in Rome to publish translations of Eyes of Arabic Books. Indeed, about 15 titles have been published translated into Serbian and Italian, including but not limited to: The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, The Personality of Egypt, a special edition of the Encyclopedia Description of Egypt, and others.
All of this helped in the return of the Writers Authority to obtain awards in Egyptian and Arab competitions, such as: the Sawiris Award in short stories, novels, and literary criticism, entering the Zayed List for Social Sciences, obtaining the State Encouragement Award, and obtaining others periodically, and in some years a number that reached More than seven awards, in addition to her books winning the Cairo International Book Fair awards.
As for the book fair, the one who came up with the idea of moving the fairgrounds from Nasr City to the fairgrounds in the Fifth Settlement was Dr. Haitham, and this matter moved the exhibition to a qualitative leap. Visitors to the exhibition over the past years can see the development that has occurred and the human places that enable visitors to move and move between the floors freely. He moved the book fair, developed it and turned it into a national event that competes with the largest cultural events in the world in terms of number. Visitors and interactions, and he made the process of searching for publishing houses within the exhibition an easy process. He launched a special application for the locations of publishing houses within the exhibition, which made it easier for visitors to navigate, led to ease of movement and activated the buying and selling process. He also created an electronic platform for the exhibition, equipped with marketing mechanisms. Necessary to facilitate the sale of paper and electronic books.
He also cooperated – in the activities of the Cairo International Book Fair – with all state institutions and ministries, especially the Ministry of Youth, in reviving the culture of volunteering through the “I Am a Volunteer” program, and he extracted the authority’s treasures of videos and restored them, such as: the video of the famous interview with Faraj Fouda.
Develop D. Haitham presented the children’s pavilion at the Cairo Book Fair, making it similar to an independent exhibition. He made his program include various children’s activities, introduced a special character to the children’s exhibition, and introduced modern technologies into the activities of the book fair, such as Yahya Haqqi’s hologram, and stories of holographic glasses for children.
He also established a partnership with the National Bank to sponsor the Cairo International Book Fair awards, especially the Best Book Award, and increased the value of one award from 8 thousand pounds to reach fifty thousand pounds.
Introducing the professional program in a professional manner at the Cairo International Book Fair, in which publishers and specialists discussed the most important publishing issues and talked about the importance of expanding the “Cairo Calling” program to host foreign publishers from all countries of the world.
He also developed the idea of book fairs in the regions, as part of the Cultural Justice Mechanism initiative, which allowed each region more than one exhibition in the same year, bringing the number of annual exhibitions before Corona to 99, which were held in one year.
In the period from 2015 to 2022, Egypt was a guest of honor in: Algiers, Casablanca, Khartoum, Amman, Jordan, Belgrade, Kenya, and Burkina Faso fairs, with participations that made a big difference in the vision of Egyptian culture. Before this period and throughout the history of book fairs, Egypt was a guest. Honored in only four international exhibitions, cooperation with exhibitions in Beijing, Azerbaijan and New Delhi also began, increasing the expansion space in Egyptian participation in international exhibitions.
For a moment, I was surprised by all these achievements – which I was unable to collect due to the lack of sources of information available about him on the Internet – carried out by a university professor, and primarily a poet, who is preoccupied with poetry and the stories told by heroes, and is astonished, like us, by the stories of “the creatures of the boiling tea pot,” and others. One of the works of the writers of the sixties in Egypt, but when he assumed an administrative position in the Book Authority, he transformed – during his tenure – from a professor who imparted knowledge to his students, from a lecturer who discussed and debated, and from a critic who sat to read and analyze books to a seasoned administrator, who silently reshaped a large edifice. He managed it in an amazing way, under difficult and exceptional circumstances, which exhausted everyone.
