The Abu Dhabi Heritage Authority has announced the list of twenty poets qualified for the live competition stage of the 12th season of the 'Prince of Poets' program, one of the most prominent cultural initiatives dedicated to discovering poetic talent and nurturing classical Arabic poetry. The announcement was made during a media event held at the Al Raha Beach Theatre in the Emirati capital, Abu Dhabi, in the presence of officials, intellectuals, jury members, and media representatives.
The first episodes of the new season will kick off on the evening of Wednesday, November 11, at 9:00 PM at the Al Raha Beach Theatre. The program will be broadcast live on the Abu Dhabi and Baynounah channels, with Lebanese presenter Nishan and Emirati presenter Naama Mohammed hosting the show.
The list of finalists includes twenty poets representing a range of Arab and African countries. Qualifiers include Mahmoud Mohammed Al-Fahdi from the UAE; Ahlam Banawi, Fatima Haidar Al-Attallah, and Mohammed Hashim Maysar from Syria; Ahmed Abdelghani, Sayed Abdelrazek, and Shams Al-Mawla from Egypt; Ahmed Al-Bashir from Sudan; Basila Moussa Zaaiter from Lebanon; Hossam Shadifat from Jordan; Taiba Jalil from Iraq; Adel Lotfi and Omar Al-Azami from Morocco; Aref Salman Al-Banna from Bahrain; Ali Andoh from Gambia; Ali bin Ahmed Balbaid from Saudi Arabia; Ali Mi from Palestine; Mohammed Al-Maashari from Oman; Mohammedan Abdulrahman Mawloud from Mauritania; and Nasser Kaber from Nigeria.
Obaid Khalfan Al Mazrouei, Acting Director General of the Abu Dhabi Heritage Authority, emphasized that the focus on poetry and poets represents a fundamental pillar in the journey to preserve Arab cultural heritage and strengthen the status of the Arabic language. He noted that this approach is based on the cultural legacy established by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and continues with the support of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and the follow-up of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
He explained that the Abu Dhabi Heritage Authority works to document and study poetry while nurturing new talent, as it is one of the essential components of national identity and the cultural memory of society. He affirmed that the 'Prince of Poets' program has succeeded since its inception in providing a competitive space for poets from all over the world and presenting their creative experiences to a wide audience.
For his part, Dr. Sultan Al Ameemi, Executive Director of the Poetry and Heritage Sector at the Authority, revealed that the 12th season received more than 1600 entries from 38 countries, including 270 entries from female poets. He noted that the selection stages included reviewing texts and conducting 144 interviews with poets from 20 countries over three days.
He added that the jury approved 97 participants, including 70 by consensus and 27 by majority, before selecting 40 poets to move on to additional tests, which resulted in the final list of twenty qualifiers.
The current season has seen the addition of written tests for the first time in the competition's history, alongside poetic improvisation tests, aimed at evaluating the participants' technical abilities, their mastery of poetic meters and rhymes, and their ability to construct poems and handle various topics.
The jury for this season includes Dr. Ali bin Tamim, Dr. Mohammed Hajjou, and Dr. Saad Eddin Kulaib, who joins the committee this season.
Al Ameemi pointed out that the program's journey since 2007 has seen the interviewing of more than three thousand poets and the reading and evaluation of over 37 thousand poems. The number of nationalities of applicants has reached 53, including 33 non-Arab nationalities, reflecting the international reach the program has achieved and its status in the cultural and poetic landscape.
He explained that the 11th season achieved more than 116 million views for the program's social media account content, in addition to more than 1.5 million interactions. He noted that the Poetry Academy has released about 80 publications related to the program, including poetry collections by participants and anthologies documenting poems from previous seasons, as well as three poetry collections by program poets winning literary awards.
During the press conference that followed the ceremony, Dr. Sultan Al Ameemi explained that the first stage of the live competitions allows the jury to qualify one or two poets to move to the next stage, noting that the program includes new developments that will be revealed during the coming stages.
The jury members emphasized that the diversity of the participants' poetic and cultural experiences represents an important addition to the competition and contributes to enriching the Arab poetic scene. They stressed that evaluation criteria are based on the quality of the text, the depth of the human and aesthetic experience, and the ability to present an innovative poetic language that reflects the poet's personality and culture.
For his part, presenter Nishan expressed his happiness at returning to host the program for its 12th season, confirming that his previous experience strengthened his relationship with Arabic poetry and pushed him to develop his skills in reciting classical Arabic through a specialized training course to improve pronunciation and performance.
'Prince of Poets' continues to solidify its presence on the Arab cultural scene as a platform for discovering new poetic voices, fostering communication between creators from different countries, and highlighting the status of classical poetry as one of the most important tributaries of Arab cultural identity.
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