KUWAIT: Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Cultural Foundation announced on Sunday the winners of the 19th Poetry Creativity Competition ‘Abdulaziz Saud Al-Babtain Session’, which aims to support poetry and poets, promote the Arabic language and highlight the cultural role of poetry in Arab societies. Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation Saud Al-Babtain told KUNA that the foundation seeks through this competition to support the Arabic language, poetry and poets and enable them to express themselves in our beautiful Arabic language, especially the youth among them, and encourage them to explore new horizons in poetic writing.

Al-Babtain added, “We believe that poetry is a sophisticated tool for expressing ideas and feelings, so we are committed to providing all necessary support to ensure the continuation of Diwan Al-Arab as a living part of the Arab nation’s consciousness as one of the basic pillars of the Arabic language.” He explained that the works participating in this session showed a high level of innovation and creativity that heralds a bright future for Arabic poetry in the coming generations, congratulating the winners of this session’s awards, especially since these awards represent one of the goals of The Foundation and its work. The creativity award in the field of poetry criticism, worth $40,000, was won by Dr Ahmed Al-Jawa from Tunisia for his book ‘Lyricism and Issues of Commitment in the Recent Poems of Mahmoud Darwish’, shared with Dr Wahb Roumieh from Syria for his book ‘Poetry and Memory — Intertextuality between Arabic Poetry in the Twentieth Century and Pre-Islamic Poetry’. The best collection award, worth $20,000, was won by the poet Latifa Hassani from Algeria for her collection ‘The Butterfly’s Philosophy’. The best poem award, worth $10,000, was won by the poet Abdel Moneim Al-Aqbi from Egypt for his poem “Mirrors of Time”. The best collection award for youth, worth $10,000, went to the poet Jaafar Hijawi from Jordan for his collection “Runner Around My Father’s Palm.” —KUNA

The best poem award for youth, worth $5,000, was won by the poet Amr Al-Bata from Egypt for his poem “Until Life Ends”. As for the appreciation award for creativity in the field of poetry, worth $50,000, it was awarded to poet Dr Khalifa Al-Waqian from Kuwait in appreciation of his rich poetic career, rich artistic contributions and outstanding creative experience.