In 2024, I engaged in several notable activities with amazing personalities across Egypt, Nigeria, Korea, and Turkey. I also had important online sessions all over Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Africa. It has been a busy year!

In Nigeria, the World Organization of Writers (WOW) Awards were announced by President Margarita Al during the 7th edition of the LIFFT Literary Eurasian Festival and the first WOW Congress held in the capital city, Abuja, on April 4, 2024, in the presence of the Minister of Information and National Guidance, Mr. Idris Malaji. I was awarded the WOW Medal in Translation.

Back in Egypt, and precisely in my hometown Benha, on the second day of Eid al-Fitr, April 11, 2024, the cultural salon "Al-Abiroon" hosted me for an open discussion about my literary experience. It was a rare opportunity to meet old friends who became icons of Egyptian literature, including Mohamed Ibrahim Taha, Mohamed Okasha, Foad Morsy, Mohamed Ali Azab, and Artist Dr. Hisham Abdel Moti, who hosts the salon at his studio on the River Nile. My wife, Fatima Al Zahraa Hasan, TV director and writer attended the cultural salon.

My 2024 travel to Korea took almost three months across the land of miracles and tragedies (April - July). First, I led a group of reporters from the Asia Journalist Association (AJA) to visit Baengnyeong Island, a key security point in Incheon, and corporate and institutional sites through 'AJA Comes to Incheon' in April 2024. In front of the memorial on the island, Malaysian journalist Noor Allah Daud (Vice President of AJA) joined me in reading the Baengnyeong Freedom Declaration:

"Baengnyeong Island is an island of peace. It serves as a place where we can first connect with our fellow citizens in North Korea and convey our will for human peace and overcoming the division between North and South Korea. It is the best tourist destination in the West Sea, featuring natural landmarks of high ecological value, representing a precious asset for the 70 million Korean people, resonating with history, culture, and natural resources."

Throughout 2024, I continued my role as the President of the Asia Journalist Association (AJA), an organization dedicated to promoting journalism and cultural exchange across Asia. I have served this post for more than eight years, from April 2016 to November 2024. AJA’s first president was its founder Lee Sang-ki (Korea), its second president was Ivan Lim (Singapore), and the fourth president, Dr. Sophal Chahy (Cambodia), will officially take his post next year during the General Assembly’s meeting.

During my Korean stay, the World Conference for Palestine, organized by the World Poetry Movement (WPM), was held virtually on June 15-16, 2024. This two-day event, initiated by the movement’s General Coordinator poet Fernando Rendón, brought together poets, writers, artists, intellectuals, and politicians who collectively emphasized the necessity of protecting the Palestinian people. The conference featured interventions and analyses by experts aiming to contribute to solutions for the critical situation in Palestine, exert pressure to halt ongoing conflicts, and advocate for an end to the occupation of Gaza. I wrote and read the AJA Statement online, thanks to the organizer poetess Ana María Oviedo (Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela).

The long stay in Seoul was spent in the AJA Headquarters tailoring the new constitution of AJA. Outside the office, there were opportunities to meet old and new friends and visit dozens of Korean cities and villages.

I also had the chance to spend a special day with my legendary friend poet Ko Un and his wife, Professor SangWha. I was gifted some of the laureate poet’s latest books, including the anthology dedicated to him, authored and painted by world literary and artistic figures. The anthology also featured a poem I wrote to Ko Un, translated by his soul partner into Korean.

In Seoul, I met a true Korean ambassador of cultural cooperation, journalist Lee Yeon-sil, or Cherry, who also introduced me to another good friend, Professor WS-Kang, Chairman of the Korean Egyptian Development Association (KEDA). Dr Kang gave me the honorary KEDA membership in Korea and appointed me as Arab media advisor when we later met in Cairo. I also met Dr. Ahmed Moursy, the Egyptian researcher who is currently teaching—in Korean—the science of Stem Cells. He married his Korean colleague and has a lovely daughter.

In June 2024, I served as a judge for the Canex Publishing Prize, an initiative by the Canex Book Factory. The prize aimed to spotlight and elevate the African book value chain. The judging panel, which headed by Dr. Wale Okediran included Edwige-Renée Dro, and we were responsible for selecting the best trade book published in Africa. As Judges, we were expected to; ‘’assess a publisher’s work on a book, focusing on the physical quality of the publication and the editorial courage displayed in publishing significant subjects’’. While submissions for the prize would be open for one month, the judging process would be for a three-month period during which, the longlist of thirteen titles, the shortlist of five books, and the eventual winning book will be decided. The culmination of the whole process was at the CANEX WKND in October 2024 in Algiers, Algeria where the award was presented to the deserving winner. 

I also joined ​the 2nd international competition "Literary Asia" as a head of jury members. This competition was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Kazakhstan and Egypt, and the 800th anniversary of Sultan Baybars, an outstanding commander and ruler of Egypt and Syria.​​​​​ I was awarded Sultan Baybars Gold Medal ,  thanks to the esteemed Bakhit Rustemov for initiating the Literary Asia competition. 

I have been fortunate enough to have my 44 books, either authored or translated, published in four continents. There are publishers from America (Costa Rica), Africa (Egypt), Europe (Russia, Italy, Turkey, Germany and Serbia) and Asia (Lebanon, Kuwait, Oman, UAE, India, Iran and Korea). Throughout the year, I continued my work as a poet, novelist, translator and journalist to add some more works to my multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Turkish, Persian, Korean, Malayalam, Sindhi, and German. 

Starting the year with the publication of Alexandra Ochirova’s book “Russian Cosmism” which opens the doors to an extraordinary world where philosophy, art and poetry are intertwined. This book represents a significant contribution to the study of Russian cosmism, covering not only national, but also universal aspects of the human soul. Alexandra Ochirova, a modern poet and thinker, reveals to readers her unique understanding of Russian cosmism; transporting them to a world where philosophy, poetry and cultural traditions merge into a single whole. In her works we find not only deep reflections on space and human consciousness, but also warm admiration for the cultural heritage and wisdom of our ancestors.

A unique addition could have an Azerbaijani factor; I translated and published a collection of stories written by Azerbaijani writer Meyxoş Abdullah entitled (The Sixth Floor) in Arabic. Azerbaijani author Tarana Aliyeva Mohamed translated my collection (A Street in Cairo), by referring to its sources in Arabic, English and Russian. Eldar Akhadov, who earlier translated the collection into Russian, who is originally an Azerbaijani author, sent me his lates book on Baku, of literary travelers who visited the city, including me, to be published in Egypt, in the Silk Road Literature Series, which I did, thanks the Publisher Publishing House. It needed the good hand and hear from Azerbaijan of Dr Seymur Nasirov to carry copies of the three books to his nationals during his latest visit to participate in a conference there as 

Talking of publishing, the second English edition of my first novel (Shamawes) was published in Dusseldorf, Germany. The African branch of the UN SDG Book Club chose this novel among the books that Canon printed during the DRUPA 2024 Integrated Printing Exhibition. The organizers of this African literary initiative are the African Publishers Network (APNET), Border Literature for All Nations, Pan African Writers Association (PAWA), the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), the African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA), the African Booksellers Association (PABA) and the United Nations Information Centre, Namibia. I received 1500 copies of the novel, first published in Arabic (2007), Korean (2008) and English (2024) and one of the main reasons to win Manhae Grand Prize in Literature (2014).

Back to Cairo I met poet Nouri Al-Jarrah, Director-General of the Arab Center for Geographical Literature and the Ibn Battuta Prize for Travel Literature, and spoke at a cultural evening held at Al-Balad Library in Cairo. The event, titled "Egypt and Its Civilizational Geography as a Starting Point, Passage, and Destination for Travel," marked the 25th anniversary of the Ibn Battuta Prize, founded and supported by poet Mohammed Al-Suwaidi, which published my book on the travels of Mustafa Abdul Razeq to France two decades ago. The seminar featured intellectuals including Dr. Ammar Ali Hassan, novelist Mansoura Ez-Eldin, Dr. Ahmed Gomaa and Dr. Yehia Zakaria.

Flying to Turkey, I attended the Antalya Book Fair 2024, an event that brings together authors, publishers, and readers to celebrate literature and promote cultural exchange. WOW organized the first Children Literature Conference where I gave a lecture and participated in the presentation of WOW books in the event. 

Some of the Live and recorded videos events welcome my participation. This includes three sessions of The Republics Shake Hands organized by poetess Olga Levednaya, in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. The 3rd Naoussa International Poetry Festival began on Friday, September 27, welcomed my poems, among 14 international poets who participated in the festival held at the birthplace of Aristotle, Greece, thanks to the invitation of the poetess Xanthi Hondru-Hill. On October 14, 2024, I participated in the Purpose Conference, sharing my extensive experience in translation and journalism for the students of the Academy of Excellence, Nigeria. In November 2024, he delivered a seminar speech in Seoul on "Low Birth Rates in Asia." 

Throughout the year, I appeared as a guest on Egyptian television four times. In January, I discussed poetry in Taiwan, my latest translated books (4 Hakka Poets from Taiwan and They Are the Daughters of Siraya), and poet Alexandra Ocherova’s sequence Horizons. I also spoke about travel literature, my novel Backyard Garden, and The Interpreter. In April, I talked about the WOW Congress in Abuja, arts in Nigeria, and traditional music and dance. In July, I highlighted my travel in Korea, Ko Un’s 90th birthday, AJA’s 20th anniversary, and KEDA. Finally, in October, I discussed my new book Naguib Mahfouz: The Narrator and Artist, published in English in Cairo and Serbian in Belgrade by Utopia Publishing House.

I participated in a documentary about the traveler Ahmad Ibn Fadlan, which was broadcast this year on Al Jazeera Documentary Channel In Ramadan. The program highlights Ibn Fadlan’s famous journey from Baghdad to the lands of the Bulgars in Northern Europe, documented in his renowned manuscript, "The Risala of Ibn Fadlan." The documentary explores the details of this journey, including the challenges Ibn Fadlan faced, such as the harsh climatic conditions that caused his beard to freeze during his travels from Bukhara to Khwarazm.

The big loss of the year was the fall and suspension of The AsiaN in Arabic, AJA Headquarters couldn’t fix the technical failure. There has been a work of 300 contributors for 12 years vanished, for the moment. I hope there would be a solution someday to republish it again. In the meantime , I continued publishing my travels and articles in Middle East Business, Life, Sindh Courier and two monthly magazines, Aqlamon Arabeyyah (Arab Pens), published in Yemen, in Arabic, and CAJ International Magazine, published in Nigeria, in English. Thanks to its Editor -in- Chief Michael Adeboboye, CAJ is published by the Congress of African Journalists, which I became its Secretary General in 2024.