Poetry Reading at Qatar National Library Highlights Intercultural Understanding

Press release

Published November 18th, 2018 - 06:05 GMT

The participants read poems in their native languages to raise awareness about diversity and cultural understanding.

Local Arab poets along with French and Spanish speakers came together at Qatar National Library’s ‘Poetry Night’ yesterday. The participants read poems in their native languages to raise awareness about diversity and cultural understanding.

Local poets read their own works while participants from the French Institute of Qatar and the Translation and Interpretation Institute recited 18^th and 19^th century poems in French and Spanish. The evening also featured musical performances by Yassine Ayari, Head of Arab Music at Qatar Music Academy, and celebrated guitarist Luis Manuel Vargas Salas. The event was organized in collaboration with the Arab World Institute, based in Paris, and Qatar Poetry Center (Diwan Al Arab), part of Qatar Ministry of Culture and Sports.

The event was created by the Arab World Institute in 2016 to bring together poets and commemorate victims of the attacks in Paris in November 2015.

Background Information

Qatar National Library

Qatar National Library acts as a steward of Qatar’s national heritage by collecting, preserving and making available the country’s recorded history. In its role as a research library with a preeminent heritage library, the Library fosters and promotes greater global insight into the history and culture of the Gulf region. As a public library, we provide equal access for all of Qatar's residents to an environment that supports creativity, independent decision-making, and cultural development. Through all our functions, we provide leadership to the country’s library and cultural heritage sector.