The Culture and Arts Chapter in Qatar University’s (QU) Alumni Association organized a Poetry Forum, which included the participation of a number of QU faculty from the Arabic Language Department: Dr. Abdelsalam Hamed, Dr. Mahmoud Kaheel, Dr. Mahrous Alsayed Youssef Mohammad and led by Dr. Ahmad Haji Safar. The event featured an array of different poetry genres and was attended by QU faculty, alumni and students.
Vice-President of the Culture and Arts Chapter Amna Abdulkarim commented on the organization of the event saying, “In line with Qatar’s direction and care for the Arabic language, we arrived at the idea of creating an annual poetry forum to showcase the latest poetry works by QU professors who are truly talented in this field. The QU community has many student poets, and a wide interested audience and arranging the poetry forum annually allows them to meet with experienced poets, motivates them to learn from them and helps them develop their poetic experiences and taste.”
Dr. Ahmad Haji Safar, Director of the Forum said, “Qatar University, represented by the Alumni Association, places value on poetry and poets because poetry remains a divine thought, the tongue of our heart, the honest reality and also the runway of dreams. This interest and care in presenting university poets to audiences is an active and sincere interaction with creativity. I hope that vital forums such as this one will continue to be repeated and renewed.”
Dr. Mahrous Alsayed Youssef Mohammad, one of the participating poets in the forum commented saying, “The mission of any university is not simply to graduate groups armed with knowledge and academics but the university must strive to form creative awareness and literary sensibility for its students. It must also work to uncover creative talents. Therefore, events related to art and literature play a role in shaping the vision of students. Through communication between successive generations of graduates and students, awareness is formed and the process of creativity continues.”