2nd Kobani Literary Festival kicks off in Syria’s Kobani
KOBANI, Syria (North press) – On Sunday, the second edition of the Kobani Literary Festival commenced at the Baqi Khedo Center for Culture and Art in the city of Kobani, northern Syria. This year’s festival bore the name of the late Kurdish poet Faqir Ahmad.
The Kobani Literary Festival was launched for the first time in June 2022 at the Baqi Khedo Center for Culture and Art. In the first edition, it was named after Kurdish writer Shahin Bakr Sorekli.
Ahmad is one of the prominent poets in Kobani and northeast Syria. He passed away in 2022 in Germany.
The festival, which will run for three days, was sponsored by the Culture Board of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) in Kobani and was organized by the Ava Publishing House.
Ahmad Dalli, the festival director, told North Press that the second edition was held under the theme “For the word that has not been uttered yet, we are here”.
Numerous writers and intellectuals from several cities in northern and northeastern Syria participated in the event.
He said that there were plans for guests from outside of Syria to attend the festival, but due to difficulties in accessing the region, they were unable to participate as scheduled.
He added that the festival’s program includes dialogue sessions and seminars covering literature, translation, folklore, and the Kurdish language. Furthermore, a book fair will be held as part of the festival, featuring the participation of five publishing houses and libraries from the region. The book fair aims to promote reading by offering discounted prices on book sales.
Dalli further noted that the festival encompasses poetry and story readings, as well as short story and poetry competitions in both the Kurdish and Arabic languages. The winners of these competitions will receive a symbolic prize valued at $200.
In 2014, Kobani suffered the woes of Islamic State (ISIS) that prevented all kinds of cultural and literary activities. The city was liberated from ISIS in January 2015.