'Golden Reed Academy' Award Ceremony in Kabul

Kabul, 23 April 2019 — A literary organization, called the “Golden Reed Academy” held its 8^th awards ceremony in Kabul.

The “Golden Reed Academy” is a group of Afghan writers and literary critics who distinguishes every year, on the occasion of the International Book Day literary works published in Afghanistan’s national languages. The academy members are some of the most famous writers, poets and critics of Afghanistan. Books recently published (less than 2 years) in an Afghan language are selected by the academy members and the award consisting of a very small amount of money (5000 Afghanis, approximately $70) and a certificate are presented during a ceremony with the participation of high ranking government officials and celebrities of Arts and Literature.

The 2019 awards were attributed to six books, three essays in Pashto, two poetry collections in Dari (Persian) and one poetry collection in Uzbek languages. There were two female writer among the nominees:

Miss Nargis Hassanzey was awarded for her essay “Writing Guide for children’s literature”
Gita Saeed was awarded for her poetry collection in Dari language “Hear me”
Datgir Farhood was distinguished for his Uzbek Language Poetry “All beautiful girls from Eva to now”
Helal Farshidward was rewarded for his poetry book in Dari Language «Tell, don’t Tell»
Ajmal Pasarlay was rewarded for his essay on « Beauty in the Ghazals of Khoshal » (Khoshal is a famous Pashtun poet of the 17th century and Ghazal is a specific form of oriental poetry)
Samiuddin Arman was awraded for his critics on some worldwide known literary masterpieces. His book’s title is «Criction» a portmanteau for Criticism and Fiction. Arman offers an original reading of international literature to a Pashtun reader.

Afghan intellectuals also expressed their appreciation to Azar Salim, a famous poet of Tajikistan, for his contribution to the common culture of the two countries.