Sultan Al Qasimi witnesses the opening of the Sharjah Arab Poetry Festival in its 22nd session
Sharjah, 5 January / WAM / His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, witnessed this evening the opening of the 22nd session of the Sharjah Arab Poetry Festival, which is held over 7 days with the participation of more than 80 poets, critics and media professionals, at the Palace of Culture.
His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah and the audience watched a recorded material entitled “Years of Poetry,” which dealt with the efforts and initiative of His Highness in establishing poetry houses at the level of the Arab world, which has completed its 10th year, and its contribution to preserving the Arab poetic movement by making poetry houses cultural beacons of the Arabic language and centers for creativity and meeting between poets and critics.
His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah honored the poet Dr. Ahmed Balboula, winner of the Sharjah Prize for Arabic Poetry, along with the winners of the Sharjah Prize for Poetry Criticism, who are: Mahrez bin Mohsen Rashidi from Tunisia in first place, Al Mahdi Al Araj from Morocco in second place, and Al Hassan Muhammad Mahmoud from Mauritania in third place.
His Highness and the audience listened to poetry readings by: the poet Najat Al Dhaheri from the Emirates, the poet Dr. Ahmed Balboula from the Arab Republic of Egypt, and the poet Hazbar Mahmoud from the Republic of Iraq.
The poet Najat Al Dhaheri recited a poem entitled “The Poet,” in which she said:
His eyes have been immersed in the space of God… interpreting his vision from the inscriptions of the star.
Inspired by the history and verses of the past…and giving himself the time he desired
He revealed to the night: O Night, be our inspiration.. For the misguidance is more intense than what we have endured //.
Al Dhaheri added:
Create for us a language that guides and a song that purifies the heart from what it has become afraid of.
The soul dances until it sees no veils… it gives meanings from the utmost concealment.
It frees the eye from its filth and sees… and washes the hearing from the silence it obscures //.
The poet, Dr. Ahmed Balboula, recited a poem entitled “The Rose of the Earth,” in which he said:
Is it a lotus, your girl, or Fajr? Are you searching for an earring with your water, oh river?
Did the woman with the braids think that she would be likened to a virgin jar in her luck?
It has wandered among the gardens, not aware of its fruits or the knowledge of the palace //.
Balboula added:
It will soon be gifted to the friend and his wife… and will be left in Egypt today, if Egypt permits.
From the Nile to the desert, there is a journey in which poetry will complete what prose neglected.
On behalf of the delta, the island will be given its daughter.. Will the delta accept it when the flowers leave it? //.
The poet Hazbar Mahmoud also recited a poem entitled “A Memory from the River,” in which he said:
A door to a booth that neither shows nor hides… as if a dream is half open.
I did not close the door, but it continued to burden me…the guilt of the eyes that I closed behind me.
I was Ibn Salmeen when the river hugged me… and the daughter of Al-Jurf saved me from death.
Hazbar concluded his poem, saying:
He says to me: You carried the mud from a drowning person…and your type of mud is not my type
But what unites us is that the water builds us…a river’s loans, and that the sun repays…
So go into drought beyond the cracks.. and do not return to your river a face clear of eagerness //.
More than 80 poets, critics and media professionals from the Arab world and a number of African countries are participating in the 22nd session of the Sharjah Arab Poetry Festival. The festival is considered a space parallel to the official platforms that allows participants open discussions and direct meetings between poets, critics and media professionals. It also gives them the opportunity to exchange visions and experiences, which contributes to the discovery of new voices and gives them the opportunity to attend and interact.
During its days, the festival will showcase poetry readings and poetry evenings, in addition to a corner for the signing of poetry collections by a group of creative people. Arab readers will be presented with 12 new names from the winners of the Golden Rhymes Award, who contributed their poetic creations to Al-Qawafi magazine during 12 issues for the year 2025.
The opening was witnessed alongside His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah by: Sheikh Dr. Salem bin Abdul Rahman Al Qasimi, Head of the Office of His Highness the Ruler, Rashid Ahmed bin Al Sheikh, Head of the Emiri Diwan, Abdullah Mohammed Al Owais, Head of the Department of Culture, Mohammed Obaid Al Zaabi, Head of the Department of Ceremonies and Hospitality, and a number of officials, poets, critics and poetry connoisseurs.
- For more: Follow Khaleejion 24 Arabic, Khaleejion 24 English, Khaleejion 24 Live, and for social media follow us on Facebook and Twitter
