Yemeni Poetry House honors famous Yemeni figures

Yemen Observer: http://www.yobserver.com

Yemeni Poetry House honors famous Yemeni figures

Posted in: News Varieties
Written By: Eman al-Jarady
Article Date: Jul 5, 2008 - 4:02:21 AM

Representatives of the Poetry House review the nominees.

Yemeni poets, singers, journalists, university professors and doctors were honored last Wednesday by the Yemeni Poetry House (YPH) for their contributions to promoting Yemeni culture and arts not only to Yemenis but to the whole world.

Ahmed al-Kibsi, Nasr Taha, Faisal Saeed, Mohammed Mohammed Basheer, Mohammed Ali, Yahia Mohammed, and Yousef Mohammed received medals and certificates recognizing their work and contributions to spreading the richness of Yemeni culture and arts. Among those honored were the famous cardiologist Ali al-Raboua’, the singer Mohammed Mourshed Naji and the publisher Faris Sanabani who was commended for his contribution to Yemeni culture and diversity through his foreign language publications.

The ceremony aimed to show that the YPH does not only honor those who are working in the field of literature – as would be expected of an institution working mainly with poetry, but also those who in one way or another promote Yemen and make it beautiful to foreigners’ eyes, as said Abdul-Salam al-Kibsi, director of the YPH. “We are happy to honor those people who represent Yemen in a very positive way; each of them in their own way has helped to promote Yemen.”

The dignitaries and prize-winners assemble for the award ceremony.

“The Ministry of Culture never hesitates to support any cultural program that promotes Yemen,” reminded Minster of Culture Mohammed al-Maflahi. He praised the YPH attempts to honor those who promote Yemeni culture and he said that honoring such people from such different fields, like doctors, journalists, politicians and others, is an effective culture promotion and clear evidence of the improvement of Yemen, which will not be fully realized until everybody works together for the sake of Yemen’s cultural development.

In the ceremony the YPH called upon the Ministry of Higher Education to enable famous Yemeni poet Sultan al-Sourmai to receive an academic certification and an official doctorate from Sana’a University, where he has taught for more than 10 years. It also called upon the Ministry of Culture to publish his work.

The YPH, which was established in 2006 and directed by Abdul-Salam al-Kibsi, aims at improving and promoting Yemeni poetry and at translating Yemeni works into different languages. It seeks to promote Yemeni culture by showing it via poetry.

The ceremony was concluded with a poetry reading by Sarah al-Badani and Ghada al-Harazi.