Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi inaugurates 23rd session
"The Narrator's Forum". 3 days with originality and tales of plants
Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi honored the personalities of the forum and the winners of its awards. From the source
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With the participation of more than 47 countries, the 23rd session of the Sharjah International Narrator Forum kicked off yesterday under the slogan "Tales of Plants" at Expo Centre Sharjah.
His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed bin Sultan Al Qasimi, Deputy Ruler of Sharjah, inaugurated the three-day forum, in which the State of Qatar is the guest of honor.
The opening activities began with a visual presentation that embodied the idea of the slogan of the current session of the forum on plants and their connection to tales.
His Highness Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi honored Ali Shabib Khalaf Salem Al-Mannai from the State of Qatar, the winner of the Honorary Personality Award, Mohammed Saeed Mohammed Hamad Al Balushi, and Khawla Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Mannai from the State of Qatar, the winners of the Legal Personality Award. The Living Human Personality Award went to Ali Faris Ali Al Ketbi, Khamis Salem Mohammed Salem Al Naqbi, Mohammed Rashid Sabih Al Badwawi and Moza Ali Al Dahmani, and honored the winners of the Sharjah International Award for Cultural Heritage in its third and fourth sessions, along with members of the jury and a group of narrators.
Prior to the opening ceremony, His Highness the Deputy Ruler of Sharjah toured the forum, listening to detailed explanations about the forum, its importance and journey over the past 23 years, and what it has achieved to continue and enhance the role and status of the narrator in society.
He was briefed on the pavilions participating in the Sharjah International Narrator Forum, which include a corner for signatures and launching publications, the pavilion of the International School of Storytelling, the pavilion of the spaces of stories, in addition to the wing of Owaid Al-Hanna, the secret garden and others, in addition to a number of pavilions of government agencies.
The current session of the forum will feature the participation of more than 120 experts, researchers and storytellers representing more than 47 countries.
This year's forum is characterized by an intellectual program full of popular knowledge, cultural heritage campaign, a cultural café, and plant tales, through serious approaches, which seek to explore the treasures and components of heritage and discuss solid scientific topics closely related to plant tales in the UAE, the Arabian Gulf and the Arab world.
The scientific program of the forum includes about 10 dialogue sessions dealing with various topics, including tales of plants in the heritage of the Emirates, the protection of Qatari cultural heritage between individual effort and institutional support, in addition to plants in folk literature, their use in medicines, decorations and trade, and addressing the symbolism of the presence of plants in the Arab narrative and in the heritage of peoples and the Arab imagination and others.
This edition is accompanied by an exhibition of tales of plants in the Emirati, Arab and international heritage, in addition to more than 40 titles highlighting the theme of the course, and its richness and diversity, which are signed within the publications of the forum. The general program of the forum also includes 50 workshops, in addition to the participation of academic bodies and institutions and Arab and international cultural centers in the forum, including: the Higher Institute of Folk Arts in Egypt, the International Academy of Moroccan Tales for Intangible Cultural Heritage from Morocco, the Zhejiang University of Industrial and Commercial Sciences, and the Italian University of Turin.
Witness to tradition
The President of the Sharjah Institute for Heritage and Chairman of the Higher Committee of the Sharjah Narrator Forum, Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Musallam, stressed the importance of plants and their role in the lives of Emiratis, adding during his speech at the opening of the forum: «Plants and trees have been of great importance to the people of the Emirates, ancient and modern, and they are one of the natural components of the Emirati environment, and a history that bears witness to the civilization and nobility of this country, providing us with a lot of information related to the customs, traditions and Emirati folk heritage, and that this link between the people of the Emirates and trees represents one of the important elements in the cultural heritage. It is important to introduce it, document everything related to this aspect, and highlight it for future generations, and this is what this session of the Sharjah International Narrator Forum seeks to achieve."