7th edition of literature festival kicks off in Syria’s Qamishli
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – The seventh edition of the annual Osman Sabri Literature Festival kicked off on Wednesday in the city of Qamishli, northeastern Syria.
The festival was held at the Rojava University with people interested in literature and poetry, as well as representatives from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in attendance.
The festival, titled after the late Kurdish Sufi poet “Melaye Jiziri” will last for three days.
Melaye Jiziri was born in Cizre Bohtan, a Kurdish city in northern Turkey. He delved into seeking the truth and became an ascetic dedicated to the love of the divine.
Ilyas Seydo, co-chair of the Culture Board in Hasakah Governorate, affiliated with the AANES, told North Press, “We greatly focus on literature. Therefore, we concentrate on a different aspect of literature each year through these festivals.”
Through these festivals, we aim to encourage reading among the people, especially since the younger generation is taught in their mother tongue, Kurdish, in schools and universities, Seydo added.
Additionally, he noted they pay great attention to children by doing annual competitions to help build a future generation interested in literature.
Osman Sabri, whom the festival is named after, was a well-known Kurdish writer and poet. He also contributed to the establishment of the first organized Kurdish party in Syria, Kurdistan Democratic Party of Syria, known as “Al-Parti” in 1957.
He was arrested multiple times in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. Some of his notable books were published in Damascus and a collection of poems was published in Germany in 1981.
The Culture Board dedicated this year’s festival to poetry, while the previous year’s focus was on writing, according to Seydo.
The first day included speeches by the preparatory committee of the festival and AANES officials, along with a short documentary about the life of the poet Osman Sabri. Music was also performed by artists, whereas participants recited poetry in both Kurdish and Arabic.
The opening day was concluded with the signing and distribution of the books that won the festival in 2022.