A cultural session, held within the activities of Ramadan Book Fair in its second edition, stressed the importance of the role of poetry in promoting values in Qatari society.
This came in the session that was held yesterday evening as part of the activities of the exhibition, which will continue until tomorrow evening, Sunday, at Darb Al-Saai headquarters in Umm Salal region, with the participation of poets Shabib bin Arar Al-Nuaimi, the director of Qatar Poetry Center, Diwan al-Arab, and Mubarak Al Khalifa, the director of the Publications and Artistic Works Department at the Ministry of Culture. It was moderated by writer and journalist Jassim Salman.
The poet Shabib bin Arar Al-Nuaimi said: “Poetry is considered an essential component and a fundamental pillar of the civilizations of nations, and this happened before the advent of Islam in the pre-Islamic period up to the modern era, and it has a role in advancing the values of society, thus, the poetry immortalized in history is the one that carried the values of its societies.” He defended it,” pointing out that the message of the (Diwan Al-Arab) Center, which was established by the Minister of Culture’s decision No. (94) of 2016 and its founding document and statute were approved, is to spread the culture of poetry to create a generation of creative poets in the country, and to create the ideal environment for poets. Taking the hands of young Qatari talents by sponsoring, supporting and guiding them, and contributing to raising the intellectual and literary level of Qatari poets, while adopting poetic projects that improve the taste of society and preserve its cultural identity, and work to define general standards and frameworks for poetry in a way that is commensurate with the cultural nature of Qatari society.
Al-Nuaimi talked about the many activities and poetry competitions he presented, most notably the University Poet Award, and how it succeeded in creating a generation of poets who uphold positive and moral values in society, which is the most important aspiration of the center, pointing out that (Diwan Al-Arab) is about to present a major poetry competition, and its details will be announced soon.
For his part, the poet Mubarak Al Khalifa stressed the importance of poetry in adopting many societal issues, through poets and their great role in community issues, pointing out that Qatar is currently distinguished by the most important poetry awards that adopt Islamic values, the most prominent of which is the (Katara) award for the poet of the Messenger, and the prize for Arabic poetry, “Mothers of the Believers” and others that achieve these principles and values.
It is worth stating that the poet Mubarak Al Khalifa had touched on the early days of the poetic scene, and the rise of poetic symbols he witnessed, in addition to the emergence of great Qatari poetic names with the beginning of the emergence of Qatar TV, which had an influential role in promoting the local poetic scene, referring to the contribution of the Doha Cultural Festival, which It was held in the past, to highlight other poetic names.
He highlighted that the establishment of Qatar Poetry Center (Diwan Al-Arab) represented a quantum leap in the march of poetry and poets, in addition to the great role played by the “Swabih Fikr” a program on Qatar TV, which constituted another qualitative leap in the march of poetry.