The Spanish embassy in Cairo is set celebrate the World Book Day, on 23 April, by holding an online reading of the famous novel “Don Quixote de La Mancha” by the prominent Spanish writer Miguel De Cervantes.
It will be the second virtual reading of the novel, after the first event launched last year. This year’s reading is dedicated to the memory of the outstanding Egyptian translator Ali Al-Menoufi (1949-2018), who translated into Arabic many literary, historical, and architectural works by leading Spanish and Ibero-American authors.
The virtual reading will be both in Spanish (the original language of the book) and in Arabic (translated by Egyptian translator Suleiman Al-Attar (1945-2020).
Many Egyptian universities participated in this project: Ain Shams, Al-Azhar, Cairo, Minya, 6th of October, Helwan, City of Culture and Science, Pharos, Badr, Zagazig, Luxor, Sadat Academy, and Lasska.
The virtual reading of Don Quixote is an extension of the activities organised by the Instituto Cervantes in Cairo and Alexandria, which include reading the same novel with a limited presence, given the circumstances imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. These activities also include an initiative to read literary works from home and a competition to write in Spanish.
The second virtual reading of Don Quixote will be available online via the Spanish embassy in Cairo’s YouTube channel.
