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World Poetry Day celebrates one of humanity’s most treasured forms of cultural and linguistic expressions. Poetry continues to bring people together across continents and is found in a myriad of forms throughout the world.

Marking the International and World Arabic Poetry Day, the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities held an evening of poetry at Bahrain National Museum’s library attended by a number of literary figures, poets and intellectuals. The event was part of the 17th edition of the Spring of Culture Festival.

During this evening Bahrain Culture Authority also organized a book sign ceremony, releasing, thus, the “Contemporary Gulf Poetry… Prospects and Visions” at the Bahrain National Museum, which included a number of critical research done by academics from The Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. The book launch also included poetry reciting by poet Dr. Fawaz Al Shurooqi, and a discussion with Dr. Dhia Al Kaabi and Dr. Mai Al Sada. The introduction and the content of the book was addressed through a dialogue session presented by Dr. Dhia Al-Kaabi, Associate Professor of Narratives and Modern Literary Criticism at the College of Arts at the University of Bahrain. In addition, Dr. Mai Al-Sada, Professor of Narratives and Modern Literary Criticism, Assistant in the Department of Arabic Language and Islamic Studies at the College of Arts, University of Bahrain, also shed light on main literary trends in the Gulf region’s modern poetry.

Worth to mention that UNESCO first adopted 21 March as World Poetry Day during its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999. The Arab Poetry Day, which was voted and agreed during Arab Culture Ministers 19th Session meeting, held in Riyadh 2015, confirming 21 March as the annual celebration has become a tradition in the Arab countries, in parallel to World Poetry day celebrations.