The Mahmoud Darwish Award announced its winners for 2023 during a ceremony held at the Galilee Hall in the Mahmoud Darwish Museum in Ramallah yesterday, coinciding with the anniversary of his birth.
The award in the category of Palestinian Creator went to the academic and poet Salma Al-Khudari Al-Jiouji, in the category of Arab Creator to the Lebanese artist Marcel Khalifa (who donated the monetary value to the foundation's projects), and in the category of Global Creator to the Italian orientalist Isabella Camera de Afflitto.
Each winner in every category receives a monetary award of $25,000 in addition to a signed certificate from the Palestinian President.
Italian Isabella Camera de Afflitto said in a speech in Arabic to the audience, "I knew about the existence of this prestigious award, but I never thought I would receive it one day." She added, "I tried through my work to introduce the literature that many in the West believe does not exist, but depriving a people of literary output simply means denying their identity and dignity... There is no people without its own literature, there is no people that does not use words to tell its story, there is no people that does not celebrate its myths and symbols."
