The Qatari Forum for Authors held a discussion session to exchange views on its youth programs and talent discovery projects. During the session, the Forum honored the winners of the “Wiring Moves Forward with the Youths” awards. Those winners shared excerpts from their award-winning works. Members of the selection committee were also honored and thanked for their efforts and contributions. In addition, the Forum honored those who participated in the “Race Your Dreams” competition presented by Author Hamad Al-Tamimi.

Al-Tamimi, Director of Youth Programs at the Forum, talked about last year’s accomplishments. He stressed that the Forum’s role does not stop at discovering talented writers, but it extends to supporting them and offering them opportunities to launch their careers as successful authors. The center provides talented young writers with training, guidance, and interaction with accomplished writers so that they would learn from the experiences of accomplished role models.

Regarding the main competitions and initiatives held last year, Al-Tamimi commented that “Wiring Moves Forward with the Youths” was the largest competition with 37 participants. “Dialogue with the Mind” was another successful competition, and so was “Race Your Dreams with Hamad Al-Tamimi,” which involved nine competing works and several workshops and discussion sessions with literature specialists over a month. Other initiatives included “Dialogue Across Generations” and “My Book and I,” in addition to a discussion session celebrating International Youth Day.

Speaking of Forum’s future plans, Al-Tamimi noted that several youth programs are scheduled in collaboration with various partners, along with a number of workshops that will focus on national identity and the factors that influence it. For example, the Forum is collaborating with Qatar University on “A Visitor to Literary Heritage,” an initiative involving discussion sessions about the Arabic literary canons, to be followed by a competition for writing heritage-inspired short stories. The Forum is also scheduled to launch the “Young Author” competition soon.