UoB Head of Arabic and Islamic Studies Department Participates in Sharjah Poetry Festival

Dr. Khalifa Binarabi, Head of the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Bahrain, participated in the 15th edition of the Sharjah Arabic Poetry Festival. Around 26 poets from seventeen countries participated in the festival.

The opening ceremony was attended by His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah. His Highness presented the Sharjah Poetry Award to two poets: The Sudanese poet Mohey Eddin Al-Fateh and the Emirati poet Ibrahim Mohammed Ibrahim. This annual prize, which is usually awarded to a poet from the UAE and a poet from another country, acknowledges the poets’ creative contributions to the field of poetry and the intellectual and literary arena.

The Sharjah Arabic Poetry Festival is a platform for poets and critics from the Arab world. It aims to preserve the pillars of poetry and to nurture poetic heritage and creativity.

The program of the festival consisted of six poetry nights, followed by a book signing ceremony. The program also included two seminars: “Correspondence between Arabic Poetry and Arts” and “Poetry Houses … A Year of Achievements”.

The festival, organized by Bait Al Shi’r (House of Poetry) of the Sharjah Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah, took place between 8 and 13 January 2017. Its activities are held at Sharjah Cultural Palace and Bait Al Shi’ir.

The poets who participated in this festival were: Mohammed Ibrahim Yaqub (Saudi Arabia), Hazabar Mahmoud (Iraq), Sheikha Al Mutairi (UAE), Mohamed Abdul Bari (Sudan), Naji Mohammed Al-Imam (Mauritania), Mohamed Areej (Morocco), Iman Abdul Hadi (Jordan), Yahya Al-Hammadi (Yemen), Khalifa Binarabi (Bahrain), Zainab Amer (UAE), Hassan Ibrahim Hassan (Syria), Zuhair Abu Shaib (Jordan), Mohamed Abdul Moneim El-Hanati (Egypt), Abdulla Al-Arimi (Oman), Bushra Abdulla (UAE), Yousuf Rizouka (Tunisia), Al-Khdar Baraka Algeria), Abdulla Al-Failakawi (Kuwait), Abdulla Bela (Burkina Faso), Abdul Hamid Al-Yousif (Qatar), Talal Al-Jnaibi (UAE), Ali Al-Shaali (UAE), Hussein Al-Khabhi (Egypt), and Jamila Al-Majiri (Tunisia).

Dr. Binarabi’s poem in the festival was entitled “Closed His Eyes” and was dedicated to the late poet Salim Abdul Qadir, and to all poets when they forever close their eyes.