Leading Egyptian cultural figure Abdel Tawab Youssef dies

Abdel Tawab Youssef, a leading children's literature writer, died Monday at the age of 87 after suffering from a month-long illness.

Youssef was born in 1928 in a Beni Suef village.

He got the State Award for Literature for Children in 1975, the State Award for Children's Culture in 1981, the Armed Forces Award for Literature in 1992 about the October War, the First Award for the Best Writer for Children in 1998, and the Medal of the Writer's Union in Cairo.

As an undergraduate, Youssef was the writer, translator, and editor of the publications produced in school and at university.

In 1950, after graduation, he was appointed in various positions in the Egyptian Ministry of Education, as the supervisor of School Broadcasting Programs from 1950-60, the chairman of the Division of Journalism, Broadcasting and Television in the Public Relations Department from 1960-1971 and also
Chaired the Division of Culture from 1971-75.

Some of his books have been translated into English, French, German, Persian, Indonesian, Chinese, and Malaysian languages.