On Monday, renowned Lebanese author Emily Nasrallah received the 2017 Goethe Medal award. 

"This year′s Goethe Medals have been awarded to Lebanese author Emily Nasrallah, Indian publisher Urvashi Butalia and Russian civil rights activist Irina Shcherbakova," reported Qantara. 

The motto of the this year's award is: "Language is the Key," and its recipients were announced earlier in July. 

Attended by the Goethe-Institut's president, Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, a ceremony will be held in honor of all three recipients on August 28. 

"Every year the Goethe-Institut confers the official decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany to honour figures who have performed outstanding service for international cultural dialogue."

Born in 1931, Emily Nasrallah grew up in Kfeir, a village in southern Lebanon. 

The novelist started her formal education in the elementary public school of her hometown and completed her secondary education at the Shoueifat National College, near Beirut. 

She eventually went on to graduate with a B.A. in Education from the American University of Beirut. 

Nasrallah's debut novel, Touyour Ayloul (Birds of September), published in 1962, received three Arabic literary awards and is now considered an Arabic literature classic. 

In addition to novels, essays and volumes of short stories for adults, Emily Nasrallah has also published seven children′s books. 

Her writing mainly focuses "on village life in Lebanon, women′s emancipation efforts, identity issues in the Lebanese civil war and migration."

Today, she continues to be an inspiring novelist, journalist, freelance writer, lecturer and a fierce women's rights activist.  

As millions arrive in Mecca for this year's Hajj pilgrimage, everyone's eyes are on the holy site and images of it filled with pilgrims are already making the rounds on social media. 

However, rarely do people witness the amount of effort and work that goes into ensuring the safety of visitors. 

Over the weekend, tweeps decided to change that and via a now viral hashtag, thousands took to the social media platform, sharing images and videos of security officials tending to pilgrims. 

Here's a peek into the heartwarming work they do: