5th Cairo International Forum on Arab Poetry

Under the patronage of Culture Minister Prof. Dr. Enas Abdel Dayem and Supreme Council of Culture Secretary-General Prof. Hisham Azmy, the Cairo International Forum for Arab Poetry will be held on January 13-16, 2020, with the participation of more than 100 poets and critics from 15 countries.

The forum will begin at 11 am on January 13 at the small theater in the Egyptian Opera House. Activities will continue over a period of four days until January 16, 2020 at the headquarters of the Supreme Council of Culture.

This is one of the most important scientific forums in the field of poetry in the Arab world. Poets and critics from most Arab countries participate in it: Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, the Sultanate of Oman, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Lebanon, Yemen, and the Netherlands, in addition to a large number of Egyptian poets and critics.

The Higher Organizing Committee of the Forum, chaired by Professor Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Muttalib, chose the topic “contemporary poetry and culture,” to be the title of the fifth session. The committee also decided to carry the name of the two great poets: Ibrahim Naji and Badr Shaker Al-Sayyab. Among the main axes, which are discussed throughout the forum, including:

• Poetry and contemporary culture: Cultural reading of poetry / poetry and the arts / poetry, contemporary language and identity / levels of intertextuality and summons in Arabic poetry
• Poetry and the transformations of Arab reality: the pillars of Arab poetry / poetry and power / poetry and feminism / transformations of poetic form
• Poetry and technology: electronic publishing / poetry from oral to digital / poetry and drama / poetry and translation
• Poetry and criticism: poetry and levels of reception / poetic image transformations / poetic poetry in the modern poem / poetry and interpretation)

There will be two round tables: the first on the poetry of Badr Shaker Al-Sayyab, and the second on the poetry of Ibrahim Naji.

The forum also includes the organization of seven poetry evenings with the participation of 65 poets and poets.

The Cairo Prize for Arab Poetry, one of the most important Arab awards in the field of the art of Arab poetry, is awarded at the end of the activities of the forum. The winner will be named on Thursday evening, January 16, 2020.

Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish won the prize at the forum’s first session in 2007; Yemeni poet Abdul Aziz Al-Maqaleh won at the third session in 2013; and the great Egyptian poet Mohamed Ibrahim Abu Sunna won the award in the fourth session in 2017.

On the sidelines of the forum, a book exhibition will be held with the participation of the publishing authorities at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, in addition to a large number of private publishing houses, with a 50% reduction on the publications of the Supreme Council of Culture.

For more information, contact wael_shalaby74@yahoo.com or visit the Conference Department’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ConferenceDepartment/