Tunis/Tunisia — Tunisian poet Adam Fathi will be honoured throughout 2023, the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organisation (ALECSO) announced.
The announcement was made on the celebration of the 9th session of the Arab Poetry Day, which coincides with the World Poetry Day, celebrated on March 21 every year.
Alecso will also honour the work of two late poets, Ali ibn Saud al Thani from Qatar and Nazik Al Malaika from Iraq. The trio of poets, chosen as the "Symbol of Arab Culture 2023", will be the focus of cultural events in various Arab countries.
Arab Poetry Day was launched in 2015 at the Conference of Arab Ministers of Culture in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Each year, a poet or a school of poetry is honoured. The day is accompanied by a series of cultural and artistic events related to poetry.
UNESCO notes that World Poetry Day was first adopted in 1999 by the 30th session of the UNESCO General Conference in Paris. The UN agency "celebrates one of humanity's most precious forms of linguistic and cultural expression and identity".
