Symposium Explores Intersection of Diplomacy & Literature Through Writings of Egyptian & Italian Diplomats

The Diplo Academy held the first episode of a series of video seminars on diplomats as writer yesterday, July 9th, with the participation of two prominent diplomats on both sides of the Mediterranean, north and south.

Italian ambassador to Croatia Paolo Trichilo presented his latest book, entitled “Diplomacy and Literature: The Eight Diplomats Who Won the Nobel Prize in Literature,” and former Egyptian ambassador to Washington Mohamed Tawfiq spoke about his creative writings through novels published in Arabic and translated into English and Swedish.

The symposium, which was moderated by Ambassador Amr Aljowaily, editor of Diplomatic Readings in Al-Diplomassy magazine, and Ambassador Stefano Baldi, Permanent Representative of Italy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, discussed the writings of diplomats in the field of literature, especially Egyptians and Italians.

Ambassador Trichilo  reviewed the biography of the eight diplomats who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, as covered in his recently published book, indicating that they were from Chile (2), France, Yugoslavia, Greece, Guatemala, Lithuania, and Mexico, meaning that noone of them were from the continents of Asia, Africa, or North America, while the continents of South and Central America and Europe were largely represented. 

Ambassador Baldi presented the book he had published on the writings of Italian diplomats, which was the subject of discussion at a cultural event at the Egyptian Diplomatic Club held in February 2010, about 14 years ago, along with a similar reference book on the writings of Swiss diplomats.

Answering the moderators’s questions, Ambassador Tawfiq explained that his writings in the field of fictional writing, especially novels, including “Candy Girl” were obviously not related to any real events, which allowed him the freedom to write creatively. However, one of his novels that he wrote while ambassador to Australia, he noted, was the raised much interest and questions when he was later appointed as ambassador to Washington, given that its imaginary events were related to the United States, he noted.

 Tawfikq also mentioned that official diplomatic correspondence may not be devoid of a literary aspect in writing, despite the clarity it requires, highlighting that one of the main points of difference is that when a diplomats address the communities of the country of accreditation, they must rely on the existing narrative in order to be pursuasive, while the novelists and writers have the opportunity to challenge  and present alternatives.

For his part, Dr. Jovan Kurbalija, founder of the Diplo Academy, specialized in the relationship between diplomacy and technology, discussed the impact of artificial intelligence on writers and authors, considering its high speed and wide scope, as well as its increasing ability to be ‘creative’.

 He presentaed of the idea of ever-evolving books, symbolized by the term “Kaizen,” through which it is possible to issue initial copies of books in a very short period of time, where the ‘human’ author provides the main ideas and flow and then reviews. The book then has the opportunity to receive interactive feedback and undergo continuous development to cope with the changing environment.

The co-moderator of the session, Ambassador Amr Aljowaily, noted that the Cairo Book Fair, chaired by Professor Dr. Ahmed Bahi El-Din Al-Assasi, Chairman of the General Book Authority, hosted two seminars over two consecutive years in 2023 and 2024 with the participation of former foreign ministers and senior ambassadors to present the writings of Egyptian diplomats as part of the current effort to prepare a reference study in the from of bibliography classifying the works of Egyptian diplomats under the title “From Telegrams to Book: Egyptian Diplomats as Authors.” So far, about 1,000 books written by about 150 Egyptian diplomats since 1952 have been surveyed in various fields of publishing, including literature, biographical memories, history, and regional studies, including the Palestinian issue, international relations and organizations, Aljowaily added.

Aljowaily referred toi the launch of a Facebook page @Diplomatswritersegypt that collects covers of Egyptian diplomats’ writings which was now included in the portal for the writings of diplomats at the global level, available at https://www.diplomacy.edu/diplomats-as- writers.