JEDDAH, 22 March 2007 — For the first time in city’s literary history, the poetry group at the Jeddah Literary Club on Tuesday celebrated the International Poetry Day with several poets reading poetry accompanied by lute played by musician Abdul Rahman Al-Marbaani.
Ahmed Qarran, poet and the group’s founder, described the day’s attendance as “beyond description.” Such literary events are usually at best only attended by 30-40 people. However, on Tuesday over 160 poetry lovers, both men and women, attended the event. Sixty women sat in the library on the second floor while over 100 men sat in the main hall on the first floor of the literary club. Women had the advantage of watching the poets reading their poetry on a TV screen.
“Surprisingly, it was crowded. That’s good. But the poetry recital was not that good, especially on the women’s side. They were just over-sentimental. Saudi women poets sure need a lot of practice before facing an audience,” said Norah Muhammad, one of the participants.
The evening began with a speech by Qarran. He said the International Poetry Day “has no borders” and “has no country.”
A total of 40 poets from Jeddah, Taif and Makkah took turns in reading their poems for three hours. Among noted poets were Mosfer Al-Ghamdi, Myyadah Zaazoua, Saeed Al-Siraihi, Hashem Al-Jahdali and Fatama Al-Ghamdi and literary critic Lamia Baeshen. She read her Arabic translations of French poetry.
At the end of the evening, the organizers specially recognized the three poets who had recently published their poetry collections. They included Ahmad Al-Bouq, Eid Al-Khamisi and Abdullah Al-Khamis. After reading poems from their latest books, the three poets participated in a book-signing ceremony.
It was also announced that the Jeddah Literary Club’s periodical entitled “Abqar,” which only published three editions before folding eight years ago, will resume publication this year. Qarran, Abqar’s editor in chief, said that the Arabic-medium periodical welcomes contributions from poets all over the world. Reviews, poetry submissions and anything else relating to poetry in Arabic are welcome.
Last September, the Poetry Group announced at the Jeddah Book Fair its schedule for the coming year along with other literary club activities that included eight poetry readings. The next reading will take place next month. Famous Saudi poet and human rights activist Ali Al-Domaini, who lives in the Eastern Province and is considered one of the main voices of Saudi contemporary poetry, is expected to attend the event.
