Sana’a Story Festival celebrates writers

Writers participating in the Sana’a Fourth Story Festival have called for more encouragement of the publishing industry in Yemen. 

Around 200 Yemeni writers and more than 20 writers from different Arab countries enjoyed such opportunity in Sana’a, during the Festival that was held on July 26 and lasted for three days. 

The Festival aimed at connecting cultures, whether Yemeni culture from different governorates or Arab culture from different countries. The participants of the event demanded to draw particular attention to children’s literature by publishing magazines for children and encouraging those who work in this field.  

The Festival, which was organized by the Ministry of Culture and the Yemeni Story Club, aimed at encouraging effective words that would do something good for the community, such as words for enhancing Yemeni unity.  

The Story Festival concentrated on five important things, namely children’s literature, internet literature, translation and studies related to story telling in Yemen and discussions about Yemeni literature that is being translated to different languages. A small book exhibition was also held in the Festival. 

“The Fourth Story Festival represents another step for furthering Yemeni culture, which improves and advances on a daily basis,” said Mohammed Al-Maflihi, Minister of Culture. “The Festival is not comparable with others since it has the particularity that it gives Yemeni writers of different governorates, as well as Arab writers, the opportunity to participate and to know and let others know about their culture and know about Yemeni culture." 

Yemeni Prime Minister Ali Mohammed Mujawar asked the writers to promote sincere and trustful words that encourage union and support connection between people of the same country, emphasizing that democracy and press freedom is the suitable environment for creativity. 

This Festival is taking place at the same time that Yemen is undergoing difficulties and threats to the union it forged during 1990, thus the role played by words to encourage the union is crucial, according to Mujawar. “These simple words will really stick the importance of the value of Yemen’s union in people’s minds,” he stressed. 

“The Story Festival embodies the Yemeni national union’s values and promotes the historical achievement that was accomplished after a lot of tough efforts," added Mujawar, mentioning that writers can promote many changes in any community by connecting societies, cultures and countries.

Participants felt that with the Story Festival, they gained knowledge about others culture and demanded the concerned bodies to continue holding such Festival every two years, as the Yemeni Prime Minister has promised.

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