8/9/2019 Sheikha Mozah, A role model for women

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CULTURE & ART 07SUNDAY 30 MAY 2010

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Algerian Minister of Culture KhalidaToumi said last week that the Algerian

Cultural Week, a cultural event hostedby the Qatari capital Doha, was yet

another bridge of love and brotherhood betweenthe peoples of Algeria and Qatar and also anothermeans to bring the peoples of both countries closer.She added that H H Sheikha Mozah bintNasser Al Missned was a role model for womeneverywhere in the Arab world.

This event is the most beautiful expression

of deep relations between our two brotherlypeoples, Toumi said, adding that the Algeriancultural convoys expressed the slogan, ArabCulture is a nation and Doha is its capital clearly.Lets all be united by culture, she said.The Algerian official who was here to attendcelebrations marking the choice of Doha as the

capital of Arab culture for the year 2010, saidleadership in her country had a strong desirethat Algerian participation in the celebrations

be both powerful and distinguished.

She recalled the Qatari participationin celebrations of Algiers as the capitalof Arab culture for the year 2007. Shedescribed this participation as strong.

Qatar made a very good cultural weekwithout forgetting the rest of its Arabbrethren who also contributed to the successof celebrations in Algeria, Toumi said.She referred to what she called strong potentialfor cultural cooperation between Qatar andAlgeria.

She added that sharing successful culturalexperiences could benefit every body.Toumi said the idea of cultural capitalsremained important because it wasnot an end in itself, but an importantoccasion to revive cultural developments.In Qatar, theres a woman who makes strenuous

efforts to open up new vistas for every body in hercountry, Toumi said. This woman is the FirstLady of Qatar H H Sheikha Mozah, she added.

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Sheikha Mozah: A role model for women

Sheikha Mozahis a role modelfor womeneverywhere inthe Arab world.

The Doha UrduLiterature PublishingCouncil is due to give

prizes to the Indian writerRtn Singh, and the Pakistaniwriter Masood Mufti dur-ing the 14th session of theInternational Prize forPublishing Urdu Literatureand the International PoetrySymposium on June 3.

The celebration, which willbe held at the Sheraton DohaHotel, will be sponsored by theMinistry of Culture, Arts andHeritage as part of its celebra-tions of choosing Doha as the

Capital of Arab Culture for theyear 2010.

The Minister of Culture,Arts and Heritage H EDr Hamad Bin AbdulazizAl Kuwari will be thechief guest in the festival.The Ministry, as a principalsponsor, has offered lots ofassistance to the Council, said

Mohammed Atiq, the chair-man of the Urdu LiteraturePublishing Council.

Noted critic MohammadAli Siddiqui, who is thedean of the College ofAdministrative and SocialSciences at the Institute ofBusiness Administration andTechnology in the Pakistanicity of Karachi, will presideover the celebration. TheIndian poet Glazar Dahlawi- from Delhi - will also pre-side over the InternationalPo e t r y S y m p o s i um .The prizes, which werefirst launched in 1996,aim to promote the Urdulanguage and literature.They consist of golden Aegis

and a financial prize of 150,000Rupees.

This years prizes wereannounced by two sepa-rate committees, whichwere led by the Pakistani

poet Mushtaq Ahmad KhanYousefi on 29 January, andGobi Jund Nareng, the former

president of the Academy ofSahitya (Indias NationalAcademy of Letters) inNew Delhi on 18 February.Around 24 poets, writers, andmen of letters from India,Pakistan, and Canada are dueto come here next week totake part in the celebration.

The Indian poets GlazarDahlawi, Munawar Rana,Majid Deobandi, GorwendrSingh, Aazam Kohli, GoharKanburi, and Mohamed TalebKhundmiri are among thosewho will attend the eventalongside the Pakistani poetsAmjad Islam Amjad, AtaaAl Haq Qasmi, MuhammadAslam Kolsri, Anaam Al-HaqJaved, Azem Behzad, EzamatBulgrami, and Mirza AsssiEkhtar.

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Doha to host Urdu language celebration

The first gathering of trans-lators of the great Arabtraveller Ibn Battuta is due

to be held in the Qatari capitalDoha on 6 December under thetitle, Arab and Muslim Travellers:Discovering Oneself and Others.The conference aims to shed lighton relations between the ArabianPeninsula and the African, Asian,and European continents as theywere represented in travel litera-ture, and the diaries of travellers, pil-grims, merchants, and adventurers.The event will be a unique one,playing host to a group of the

brightest Arab and foreign minds,

academics, researchers, and writ-ers from about 30 countries,including Qatar, Egypt, Morocco,Tunisia, and Lebanon, said theSyrian poet Nouri Al-Jarrah.

There would be a photo exhibi-tion, maps, and books contributed

by Arab trotters and travellers overa period of 2,000 years, he added.

He added that 14 participants wouldreceive the Ibn Battuta Award,which has been granted to writersand translators since the year 2003.The award is sponsored by theUAE poet Mohammad AhmadAl Suwaidi. It is divided into fivesections, namely Manuscripts,Geographical Studies, TravelLiterature, ContemporaryTravel, Travel Press and Diaries.Award-winning researcheswill be made into booksduring the conference .In focus during the conferencewill be the Strait of Hormuz, tripsacross Arab beaches, the Portugueseinvasion of some countries, the

British occupation of others, andthe Ottoman presence in Arabcountries.

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Event to bring IbnBattuta lovers together

AUnited Arab Emirates poet said he was

extremely pleased at the selection ofDoha to be the Capital of Arab Culture,

expressing admiration at the presenceof diverse activities and cultural programmes inthe city.

Rashid Sharar said he had followed thecultural activities that were held in the Qataricapital during the first quarter of 2010 and foundthem diverse and serious.

Qatar can also be the economic capital of

the Arab world as well as the media capital thanksto the admiration it has won from the interna-

tional community in these respects, Sharar said.The people of Qatar have thirst for knowledgeand learning, he added .

He added that the Qatari capital offeredpoets with inspiration for much-needed poetic

creativity and that the Gulf Radio Station leftits mark on the mood of the visitors to the city.

While in the Jordanian city of Zarqa,Sharar kept audiences glued to their seats whenhe read out his expressive poems and delightful

verse.The Director of the Sharjah Centre for

Popular Poetry, Sharar was the guest of honour

at the Saih Ziab Festival in Zarqa.

He read outmany of his poems,including the Wall OfSilence, the Luter,Teach me Passion, TheNest and the Bird, and

an Arrogant snob.He also read out

his wonderful poem MyLast Stop, which reads:Your voice took me toanother world/ Wheredreams are built/ It

brought you to my thoughts/ Woman, you are atrue nymph/ Let my groans be heard to you.

Sharar is an esteemed poet who is viewed

as the one who brought popular poetry back ontrack.

He said he was always keen on making thenecessary renewal to poetry, while at the sametime maintaining the power of diction.

He invited Arab poets to reconsider themission of poetry. He said metaphors that tran-scend the bounds of poetry needed also to bereconsidered.

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UAE poet inspired by Qatari capital