Sharing Worlds

This year’s Nobel Museum focuses on the Nobel Prize for Literature – a field that is very much part of MBRF’s remit – and sets out to encourage future Nobel laureates to take up the wonderful art of storytelling.

The annual Nobel Museum, organised by the Moham-med bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) in collaboration with the Nobel Foundation, is a highly-anticipated event aimed at disseminating knowledge. The 2019 edition focuses on the Nobel Prize for Literature under the theme ‘Sharing Worlds’, and runs from 3 February to 2 March, at La Mer, in Dubai.

This will mark the fifth time the Nobel Museum has been held in Dubai under the patronage of His High-ness Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of MBRF. The Nobel Prize is the most prestigious of its kind, awarded by Swedish and Norwegian institutions to honour academics and thinkers and recognise their contributions to advance-ments in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, economics and peace.

On 27 November 1895, Swedish inventor and indus-trialist Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament, giving the largest share of his fortune to a series of prizes, the Nobel Prizes. As described in Nobel’s will, one part was dedicated to “the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction”. The Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded 110 times to 114 Nobel laureates between 1901 and 2017, but there are seven occasions when it was not awarded due to there being no “outstanding work in an ideal direction”, as stipulated in Nobel’s will.

MBRF’s CEO His Excellency Jamal bin Huwaireb said that the Nobel Museum continues to enhance the Foundation’s role in the knowledge sector, shedding light on some of humanity’s greatest creations in literature, which facilitates the production and dissemination of knowledge, as well as the establishment of knowledge societies and driving forward the sustainable development process in all of our communities.

“With the Nobel Museum, we are echoing the UAE’s strategic objectives to promote innovation and creativity among all segments of society – particularly, the youth and students – empowering them to become productive members of their community,” he added. “Organising the Nobel exhibition in the Emirate of Dubai every year reflects the Nobel Foundation’s faith in the emirate and in MBRF’s ability to host such a large-scale event, and set an agenda that attracts large audiences and lives up to the expectations of knowledge enthusiasts.”

The Arab and Islamic world has a rich literary legacy, both in classic and modern literature. It is therefore fitting that one of the eight leureates selected for ‘Sharing Worlds’ is the Egyptian writer Naguib Mahfouz, who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature. Regarded as one of the first contemporary writers of Arabic literature, Mahfouz published 34 novels, over 350 short stories, dozens of movie scripts and five plays over a 70-year career (see page 50).

The Nobel Academy letter to Mahfouz cited that his “rich and complex work invites us to reconsider the fundamental things in life”. Shortly after winning the prize Mahfouz was quoted as saying: “The Nobel Prize has given me, for the first time in my life, the feeling that my literature could be appreciated on an international level. The Arab world also won the Nobel with me.”

Dr Olov Amelin, Vice President, Exhibitions, Nobel Prize Museum in Sweden, said: “The Nobel P rize Museum has the ambition to reach out to a young audience world wide and inspire people to get engaged in the areas in which you can receive a Nobel Prize. These prizes are handed out in the spirit of Alfred Nobel who claimed that the laureates should have done a fantastic achievement “for the benefit of humankind”. Laureates like Mahfouz and others are great role models, and inspire us all through their writing. It’s an honour for the museum to be able to present our fifth exhibition in Dubai. We have created a playful entrance to the world of literature, books and everlasting stories.”

“If the urge to write should ever leave
me, I want that day to be my last.”
Naguib Mahfouz

The ‘Sharing Worlds’ exhibition focuses on selected Nobel laureates and their works as a gateway that allow us to see the fascinating riches of our world. The eight selected works are presented with films and interactive art pieces. Each of the novels represent a certain theme such as love, peace and family.

Visitors to ‘Sharing Worlds’ can also try their hand at writing. In the Nobel Museum there are four writing stations, Write Your Story, where budding authors can c reate their own book w ith images and text, and publish to the exhibition library. There’s also the opportunity to send a poem by a Nobel laureate to a friend from one of the Poetry Postcard stations.

It is the interactive nature of the Nobel Museum that has made it so popular with visitors, allowing both young and not so young to learn in a stimulating and hands-on environment. The exhibition also includes several weekly workshops, featuring experts and specialists from the Nobel Foundation and international institutions.

MBRF is a strong supporter of the written word with Qindeel – its printing, publishing and distribution arm – focused on the promotion and dissemination of culture and knowledge to stimulate intellectual activity in the Arab region and across the world. It publishes hundreds of new titles every year, covering a wide range of topics and areas such as knowledge, development, business administration, as well as creativity and innovation. These books are published both in paper and electronically.

Other literary initiatives of MBRF include the Dubai Digital Library, an advanced electronic platform that supports a culture of reading by showcasing an extensive collection of Arabic books, including written or translated works covering all areas of life.

Meanwhile, the 2030 Literacy Challenge targets 30 million Arab youth and children. This initiative aims to compensate people for missed opportunities in formal education by helping them to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to face challenges.

And the Dubai International Programme for Writing aims to empower and encourage young talents who have displayed a flair for writing in various fields of knowledge from science and research to literature, novels and poetry and help them reach the world.

Hopefully, ‘Sharing Worlds’ will inspire the UAE’s potential Nobel laureates to jump-start their literary ambitions.

THE THEMES

The literature featured in this year’s ‘Sharing Worlds’ Nobel Museum exhibition falls across eight themes:
• HUMAN CONDITION
• PEACE
• LOVE
• CITY
• FAMILY
• TOLERANCE
• FAIRY TALES
• LIFE

“It’s a good thing
when you don’t dare
do something if you
don’t think it’s right.
But it’s not good when
you think something’s
not right because you
don’t dare do it.”
Sigrid Undset

“The only way to deal
with an unfree world
is to become so
absolutely free that
your very existence is
an act of rebellion.”
Albert Camus

“Life and nature are
hard. They bring forth
courage and joy as a
counterweight against
their own hardness, or
no one could endure
them...”
Selma Lagerlöf

“The heart’s
memory
eliminates the
bad and magnifies
the good.”
Gabriel Garzia
Marquez

“If there is a book
that you want to
read, but it hasn’t
been written yet,
you must be the
one to write it.”
Toni Morrison

“Death is the
fairest thing in the
world. No one’s
ever gotten out of
it. The earth takes
everyone – the
kind, the cruel,
the sinners.”
Svetlana Alexievich

“The writer
probably knows
what he meant
when he wrote a
book, but he should
immediately forget
what he meant
when he’s
written it.”
William Golding