Bibliotheca Alexandrina to host closing ceremony of 'Reading for Everyone'

CAIRO – 24 September 2018: Bibliotheca Alexandrina is expected to host the closing ceremony of the "Reading for Everyone" initiative on September 26.

The initiative is organized by the library’s management for the 10th consecutive year.

The event is organized in co-operation with AMIDEAST and the Egyptian Association of Friends of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

The library prepared a program for participants of 16 years of age and above, in which certain activities are assigned for the participants, allowing them to discover their talents and express themselves and their views in creative ways.

Two short stories for American writer/novelist Edgar Allan Poe have been chosen this year to participate in the reading festival; "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Masque of the Red Death".

Numerous other activities for teenagers and young adults have been organized and presented in workshops and discussion sessions.

A specialized program has been set for individuals with special needs and those who have speaking and hearing disabilities, allowing them to express themselves.

Names of the winners of all sections of the festival’s program will be announced during the closing ceremony, while participants in several workshops will be honored.

Due to the efforts exerted by participants in the writing and theatre workshop, the abovementioned short stories will be performed on stage in Arabic. Also, silent translation (miming) will be used for those who need hearing aid.

The shows will be performed on the Small Theatre of the Conference Hall in Bibliotheca Alexandrina on Sept. 26, 27, 2018.

“The Masque of the Red Death” is a short story by American writer Poe. The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague, known as the Red Death, by hiding in his abbey. Along with many other wealthy nobles, he hosts a masquerade ball in seven rooms of the abbey, each decorated with a different color.

In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. Prospero dies after confronting this stranger, whose "costume" proves to contain nothing tangible inside it; the guests also die.

Poe's story follows many traditions of Gothic fiction and is often analyzed as an allegory about the inevitability of death, though some critics advise against an allegorical reading. Many different interpretations have been presented, as well as attempts to identify the true nature of the titular disease.

The story was first published in May 1842 in Graham's Magazine and has since been adapted in many different forms, including a 1964 film starring Vincent Price.

"The Tell-Tale Heart" is relayed by an unknown narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of his sanity while simultaneously describing a murder he committed.

The victim was an old man with a filmy "vulture-eye", as the narrator calls it. The narrator emphasizes the careful calculation of the murder, and he hides the body by dismembering it, and hiding it under the floorboards.

Ultimately, the narrator's feelings of guilt, or a mental disturbance, result in him hearing a thumping sound, which he interprets as the dead man's beating heart.

The story was first published in James Russell Lowell's The Pioneer in January 1843. "The Tell-Tale Heart" is widely considered a classic of the Gothic fiction genre and is one of Poe's most famous short stories.