Abdul-Tawab Yossef

Abdel-Tawab Yossef Ahmed Yossef (Arabic: ), an Egyptian author, translator and publisher of publications issued by the school and the university. He was born in the village of Shanra in Beni Suef Governorate in Egypt on October 1, 1928. He obtained a BA degree in political science from Cairo University. Then after graduating from the university, He worked as a supervisor for school radio programs at the Ministry of Education. Then he headed the Department of Journalism, Radio and Television. He works so until he devoted himself to writing for children since 1975. He had the idea of issuing the first Islamic magazine for children under the name of Paradise ( ALfirdaws) in 1969, and he established the first conference for child culture in 1970. He established the Children’s society, as well as the first to present work for children. He specialized in children’s literature and occupied a prominent position in this field. He was considered one of the most prominent pioneers in children’s literature and copied the standard literary production in the Arab world in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
His writing was characterized by its sweetness, sophistication and accurate information. He was distinguished by his wide culture and concerns to present everything that is useful. Abdel Tawab's books were printed about 25 million copies between Egypt, Beirut, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Muscat. Some of his books have been translated into English, French, German, Persian, Indonesian, Chinese and Malaysian. While Joseph translated works for children, including The Birth of the Messenger in Anderson's Eyes .. A scene in Constantinople by the Danish writer and poet Hans Christian Andersen.
Among the most prominent prizes he received were the 2000 Bologna International Children's Book Fair for his book The Life of Muhammad in Twenty Stories; State Prize for Children's Literature in 1975; The State Prize of Appreciation for Child Culture in 1981; And the King Faisal International Prize for Arabic Literature in 1991; The Armed Forces Prize for Literature in October 1992; The first prize in the competition for the best children's writer in 1998; The Suzanne Mubarak Prize in 1999 and 2000; With the Order of Sciences and Arts, First Class; State Merit Prize for Children’s Literature in 1981; The Order of the Republic is of the second class; UNESCO World Literacy Prize in 1975. And the gold medal from the Arab Broadcasting Union. He passed away on 28 September 2015. 
His life.
His birth, childhood and youth.
Sons of Abd al-Tawab Yusef, from the right: Issam, then Hisham, then Lubna.
Abdel Tawab Youssef was born in the village of Shanra, in the city of Al-Fashn, in the governorate of Beni Suef, on October 1, 1928. He received his primary and secondary education in the city of Beni Suef. He lived his childhood in the villages of Egypt and expressed this in his stories and creative works, as he used to rent novels and books to read and then repeat their story to his friends who are children. This is the reason that led to his uniqueness, later, in the way he wrote for children, as he imagined himself among children and spoke to them, which makes the reader participate in thinking and opinion in the story he read.
He moved to Cairo in 1945 to begin his university studies at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University until he obtained a bachelor’s degree in 1949. Six months after his graduation in January 1950, his father passed away, which posed a great challenge to him in his life, as he decided to move to Cairo With his mother and three sisters, between the ages of six and ten, to live, earn a living and educate his sisters. He obtained a master's degree in 1953.
His Marriage.
In 1956, he married Natila Ibrahim Rashid, former editor-in-chief of Samir Magazine and Crescent Books for Children, winner of the State Prize in Children's Literature in 1978 and the First Class Medal of Science and Arts. They gave birth to their three children, Lubna, in 1957, and she is a professor at the Department of English at the Faculty of Arts at Cairo University and the faculty vice-dean for postgraduate studies. Hisham in 1959, a diplomat and was the official spokesman and head of the office of the Secretary-General of the Arab League, and now he is the head of the relief unit in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; And Essam in 1965, where he was a managing director of the Egyptian International Company for Environmental Protection and is currently working as a general manager for Montana Studios for Film Production, and the author of two novels A Quarter Gram in 2008 and two officers in 2014.
Years of work.
Children's radio programs were the starting point in his career, as it gained him experience in the audio and audio field, and he worked hard to write works that combine pleasure and keep pace with circumstances, events and occasions, and this was in the sixties. His first children's work was broadcast on the Papa Charu program on December 19, 1950. Since then, he has written thousands of programs for children, which were presented on all Arab radio stations. He worked as a supervisor for school radio programs at the Ministry of Education after graduating from the university from 1950 to 1960. Then he headed the Department of Journalism, Radio and Television in them from 1960 to 1971; Then he headed the Culture Department from 1971 to 1975. In the early seventies, his first trips to the outside world was to Europe, and on this trip he got acquainted with new dimensions in the field of children's literature, then his interest in new dimensions increased when the Cairo International Book Fair was held, which allowed him to learn about the various schools and trends that interest children and write for him. In all its life stages.
And he chose to write in all areas of knowledge such as the religious aspect, nationalism, national values, educational attempts, science and its fields, the Arabic language, its nobility, ancient and modern, humanistic trends, recreation and entertainment, writing for the child and about the child and childhood. Until he devoted himself to writing for children since 1975, after a five-year break in political work. Despite what Abdel-Tawab wrote about children, he considers himself more a reader than a writer. He stated in one of his press interviews, saying: “He showed me more of a reader than I am a writer, and during my travels I bought thousands of books until I had a library that says those who visited it from the English And the Americans, it is the largest home library for children in the world. ” The large number of children's books that he bought for the greatest children's book in the world caused Youssef to buy an apartment in which he deposited 30,000 books for children, left 10,000 books in his house, and deposited 5,000 books in his son’s library.
Abdel Tawab Youssef has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of the Protectors of the Arabic Language since its inception and of the Children's Culture Committee of the Supreme Council of Culture since its inception, where he was its deputy rapporteur and the Family and Child Committee of the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs, founder of the Egyptian Writers Union, and a member of the board of directors for twenty years. He served as Secretary-General for three years and witnessed the Federation’s symposium on children's literature in Damascus, Baghdad and Bani Ghazi. The writer is considered a record holder in his literary production, as he presented 595 books for children printed in Egypt, 125 books for children that were printed in the Arab countries, and 40 books for adults. 
literary style.
His reading at an early age had a great and influential role in his collection of references, as he read about international thought and literature, which made him exceed his age, and this literary treasure, later, in the form of literature and children's stories, was taken out, where he considered caring for this type of literature as a civilized feature that means dealing with the future science and planning for it. The writer's literary production is a reflection of his upbringing, as Yusef lived his childhood in the villages of Egypt and spoke about it, and he expressed this clearly in his literary works, and he used to narrate that in his childhood he used to rent novels and books to read them and then return their story to his children friends, which made him a master storyteller and storyteller.
Abdel Tawab was unique in a style that he created for himself in writing for children, and no one preceded him, which is to imagine himself among the children and talk to them, which makes the reader participate in thinking and opinion in the story he read. The family climate in which he was raised played another role in his literary style, as he grew up in a middle class that made his writing influenced by the religious stories he presented in the form of hadiths for children. Abdel Tawab considered that the lack of creativity in some children's literature writers is the obstacle that stands in the way of the proliferation of literary production, as some writers are content with reformulating old stories only.
Youssef took an independent approach to writing, highlighting the focus on Islamic values and working on the merging of scientific and religious information at the same time. He says in this: “My methodology in writing for children begins with establishing a belief and then loving the Noble Qur’an for them. The children’s memorizing verses of the Qur’an elevate them to the noble and miraculous style of the Qur’an. In my stories, I focused on birds and animals mentioned in the Holy Quran, which total 30 birds and animals. I started with a story about the whale, so I said I am a whale that weighs 75 tons, even though my egg cannot be seen with the naked eye. ”
His relationship with Anis Mansour.
In 2002, Youssef wrote a letter to the late Anis Mansour in which he introduces him to himself and his literature, draws attention to his cartoon characters and corrects a mistake that occurred in him. Mansour published his message in his column, Mawaqif, which he used to write in Al-Ahram, and he responded by saying: Excuse me, dear friend, because I am not completely following children's books and their world, as in our family children I see them for some time and occupy them for moments. Everything returns to how it was, and I return to my world from books, reading, and the constant breeding of question marks and exclamations that wrap and fly around my brain and spoil sleep and food, distort the mind, and release black smoke in my eyes and buzzing in my ears. 
Literary production.
Abdel Tawab realized, at an early age, that children are the hope, the widest door, and the most important path to the future of the nation, and he did not miss a moment to present to them his life as a writer and thinker, as he left a legacy full of creative works in the field of child literature, as he was considered one of the most prominent people concerned with writing about it in The Arab world, who left clear and influential imprints in what they presented to children. Abd al-Tawab realized that exposure to writing to a child requires a special awareness of the child, his world, his way of thinking, his understanding of what he sees and hears of speech, his understanding of the semantics of words, the level of language structures, what he loves and accepts him and what he is alienated from. The writer's writings were characterized by diversity, and he drew inspiration from world folklore, religious heritage and Arab history. He also employed Arab culture and Arab environments in his production. He has enriched the Arab Library with a total of 951 literary works; 595 children's books were printed in Egypt; And 125 children's books were printed in the Arab countries; And 40 books for adults; In addition to two writers about Muhammad’s life in twenty stories, of which 7 million copies were printed; In addition to the field fiction, which has printed 3 million copies.
Peoples Tales series.
• Ants Hill ... and other stories from Indonesia.
Tokinaro and other tales from Japan.
• The Yellow Butterfly ... and other stories from Africa.
• The White Peacock and Other Tales from Spain.
• Who wins and other stories from the Slavs.
• The Mayor and other stories from the Slavs.
Awards.
Abdel Tawab Youssef has received many awards and honors such as: The Bologna International Children's Book Fair 2000 prize for the book Muhammad’s life in twenty stories; State Prize for Children's Literature in 1975; The UNESCO World Literacy Prize 1975; The State Prize of Appreciation for Child Culture in 1981; The King Faisal Prize in Arabic Literature 1991; The Armed Forces Prize for Literature in October 1992; The first prize in the competition for the best children's writer in 1998; The Suzanne Mubarak Prize in 1999 and 2000; The Order of Sciences and Arts of the first class; The Order of the Republic is of the second class; And the gold medal from the Arab Broadcasting Union.
His efforts in the Arab world.
Abdul Tawab Yousef visited the United Arab Emirates 3 times to follow up on literacy efforts to improve the mind of the Arab child, in addition to his participation in seminars and activities to eradicate illiteracy for children in more than one Arab country. And Sharjah to attend the activities of the Children's Culture Festival and to attend the Dubai Symposium on Children’s Literature in 2004. An envoy from UNESCO visited Qatar three times and likewise to participate in seminars related to childhood; He visited Kuwait more than 10 times; He visited Bahrain 6 times, also Damascus, Sudan, Libya and Tunisia, 10 trips to Saudi Arabia, and one visit to Morocco and Algeria. He also visited England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, America and Canada, and made 117 trips to the countries of the Arab world besides 40 trips to America, Canada, Europe and the Far East and founded and headed the Children's Culture Association since 1968.
Sayings about him.
Suheir Al-Qalamawi.
The writer is called the pioneer of children’s literature in the Arab world, but he always refused that, explaining that “I am not a pioneer and I do not like this name. The real pioneer is Kamel Kilani, and I followed the path of this man, and I consider him more important than Anderson because he did Creating 10 channels for children's culture. In the fun, he composed stories about Juha, composed religious stories, compiled stories about the Prophet’s biography in 30 books, and added sciences, but for the time when it was only living, he was interested in animals and plants only, so there was no physics, chemistry and technology as it is. The state of our time, and I believe here a famous saying by Bernard Shaw where he says: I do not look like Shakespeare, but I stand on his shoulders. Therefore, I developed after Kamel Kilani and between me and him 50 years. ” 
As for the Arab world, he was called the Umda of Arab Children’s Writers, and he was praised by many Arab and international intellectuals and personalities. Suheir Al-Qalamawi said of him: “There are many people who write for children. But only a few have produced real literature, and Abdel-Tawab Youssef is at their forefront, in terms of quantity and quality. While Desan Roul, President of the International Association for Children's Books, said of him: “Abd al-Tawab Youssef’s library is the largest children's library in a household in all the world, and his books apply the same thing.” 
His statements.
«The children's writer is a creature that has its own peculiarity arising from that he assimilates the personality of the young when he addresses him, and tries to simplify, and returns to the source from which he draws his material, and his topics while in the meantime searching for words included in the child's dictionary, bearing in mind his tendencies and desires, needs and motives, hoping to be enjoyable This is my childhood. '
His death.
The Egyptian writer Essam Youssef said that his father, the children's writer Abdel-Tawab Youssef, died on the afternoon of Monday 28 September 2015 at the age of eighty-seven, following a health crisis that afflicted him in August of the same year, leaving more than a thousand books for children, thus achieving a record for a writer in Egypt and the world. In a call with Reuters, Yusef added that his father had suffered from some diseases in recent months and that he had lost enthusiasm for everything since he stopped holding the pen about six months ago. The funeral took place at the Hosary Mosque in the 6th of October City. 