Literary festival starts in Syria’s Kobani
ALEPPO, Syria (North Press) – The first session of Literary Kobani Festival was opened at Baqi Khedo Center for Culture and Art in the city of Kobani east of Aleppo Governorate.
The festival is held under the auspices of Culture Board in the Euphrates Region.
The Euphrates Region is an administrative division that includes the areas of Kobani, Raqqa, Ain Issa and the Turkish-occupied city of Tel Abyad, which is affiliated with the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES).
Ahmad Dali, director of the festival, told North Press that the first session was named after Kurdish writer Şahin Bakr Swerkli and it will last a week.
“The festival includes literary competitions, a book fair, a book signing and cultural dialogues in which intellectuals from outside Kobani and outside Syria participate,” Dali added.
The AANES was first formed in 2014 in the Kurdish-majority regions of Afrin, Kobani and Jazira in northern Syria following the withdrawal of the government forces. Later, it was expanded to Manbij, Tabqa, Raqqa, Hasakah and Deir ez-Zor after the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) defeated ISIS militarily.
He pointed out that four publishing houses and two libraries participate in the book fair which lasts throughout the festival days.
In 2014, Kobani suffered the woes of ISIS militants who prevented all kinds of cultural and literary activities. The city was liberated from ISIS in January 2015.
The festival will announce for four rewards, each worth $200, in addition to a shield of honor for winners in the literary competition in the field of story and poetry in Arabic and Kurdish on the closing day of the festival.