Seyyed Abdollah Hosseini made the remarks during the press conference of the event held in Tehran’s Arts Bureau on Wednesday.

According to iribnews.ir, a total of 600 English works have been participating in the event, he said, adding that Persian and English sections were held separately.

The closing ceremony of the event will be held on August 31, with Iran’s Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili and Head of Iran’s Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) Mohammad-Mehdi Imanipour.

Hosseini said that the event is Iran’s biggest ever literary awards.

On the importance of poetry, Hosseini said that at the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), poetry was the only available means of art capable of expressing the voices of the oppressed people.

He added that the Holy Prophet was always a source of inspiration for ritual poets.

Ali Mo’allem Damghani, Ali Mousavi-Garmaroudi, and Alireza Qazveh will be commemorated during the closing ceremony, Hosseini added.

The festival’s Scientific Secretary Qassem Sarrafaan said that the festival aims to generate motivation for writing high-quality ritual poems, adding that the country has not had such a great poetry festival for years.

On the process of evaluation, he said that 460 works reached the semi-final stage and, finally, 16 literary works are competing in the final stage, noting that the top 10 works will be awarded at the closing ceremony.

 

Source: Iran Daily