The 15th edition of the Ostana Prize will recognise in a month’s time eight writers, singers, and filmmakers who stand out in the defence, cultivation and promotion of the Basque, Asturian, Arpitan, Corsican and Scottish Gaelic languages, in addition to Tamajeq, a Tuareg language that will be awarded through Hawad’s work, who will receive the 2023 Special Prize.
Hawad is a Tuareg poet and visual artist from Niger’s Aïr Massif. Ostana Prize organizers award him for his “commitment and determination in promoting the use of the Tamajeq language and its [Tifinagh] alphabet.” His “original artistic production,” which includes a creation of his own —the so-called furigraphy— “has made his culture resonate beyond its borders”, especially in Occitania, where he lives.
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