The Gerardo de Cremona International Prize for the Promotion of Translation in the Mediterranean , spearheaded by the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM) by means of the Toledo School of Translators, in its fourth edition, has awarded prizes to the translators Isabella Camera D’Afflitto and Muaia Alabdulmajid and the Latinitati Fovendae Academy. Also a posthumous prize has been awarded to the Egyptian Hispanist Ali Menufi. The decision of the jury will be publicized to coincide with International Translation Day, which is commemorated on the 30th of September in honour of Jeronimo of Stridon, who translated the bible and is the patron saint of translators.
Spearheaded by the Toledo School of Translators with the support of the King Abdul-Aziz Foundation for Islamic Studies and Humanities (Morocco), the MED 21 programme and the Council of Cremona (Italy), the award recognizes the significant contributions of a person and/or institution from a country from the north shore and one country from the south shore of the Mediterranean in the field of translation. It is of an honorary nature and consists of a sculpture and a diploma. In this third edition, the prize-giving ceremony will take place on the 6th of October in Cremona, organized by the council of this Italian city.
The award has been decided on by a jury made up of the chancellor of the UCLM, Miguel Ángel Collado; the director of the Toledo School of Translators, Teresa Santamaría Hernández; the director of the King Abdul-Aziz Foundation for Islamic Studies and Humanities, Mr Sghir Janjar; the president and founder of the awards network "MED 21 Network Programme for Awards for the promotion of excellence in the Mediterranean", Nadir Mohamed Aziza; the mayor of Cremona, Gianluca Galimberti, and the representative of ACE Traductores (ACE Translators) Teresa Lanero.
The jury has recognized and rewarded the work of Isabella Camera D’Afflitto, considered to be the most outstanding Italian Arabist. Professor of Literature at the Sapienza University in Rome, her academic output about the Arabic world is vast and outstanding for more than thirty translations into Italian from such renowned authors as Naguib Mahfuz or Ghassan Kannafani; and in the "Translators from the south shore’ category, awards will go to Muauia Alabdulmajid, of Syrian nationality, doctor in arts at the universities of Bologna and Mulhouse and a translator who has rendered into Arabic big names in Italian literature such as Dario Fo, Elena Ferrante, Italo Svevo or Antonio Tabucci.
In the "Institutions" category, the IV Gerardo de Cremona Prize recognizes the track record of the Latinitati Fovendae Academy, a public institution founded in 1969 and dedicated to the recovery and promotion of Latin as a living language in Europe and the Mediterranean. Together with conferences and academic publications, translation is part of the tools the Academy uses to bring Latin closer to the general public.
Lastly, in recognition of his work, the prize organizers will give a posthumous award to the Egyptian hispanist Ali Menufi (1949-2018) , head of Spanish Language and
Literature at the University of Al-Azhar (Cairo).
This prolific philologist translated from Spanish to Arabic theoretical studies on literature, Spanish-Muslim art, Andalucian architecture and the history of Spain, and is responsible for the Arabic version of Rayuela, the masterpece of Juñio Cortázar.
UCLM Communication Office Toledo, 1st of October 2018