Poetry night reveals beauty of Saudi, French literary tradition

The French Embassy in Saudi Arabia and Alliance Francaise recently organized the fifth Nuit de la Poesie, or Night of Poetry, at the Residence of France in Riyadh as part of the French cultural season.

The cultural event is held annually and devoted exclusively to poetry.

Ludovic Pouille, France’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said in his opening address: “Poetry is not only a literary genre combining style, metric, lyricism. In all the literatures of the world, poetry is ambitious, poetry is sustainable, poetry is hope. This art, dear to our hearts, is also a link between peoples, civilizations.

“It is in this spirit that I wish that we find ourselves this evening in an atmosphere of sharing, of celebration, at the crossroads of languages, cultures, generations. This evening is held in honor of the freedom, the power that the words of poets, ancient or modern, illustrious or not, carry.”

Pouille thanked the poets and musicians, partners including Alliance Française, the embassy’s members of the Cooperation and Cultural Action Service, Saudi-French Business Council, and the Rencontres Francophones, as well as those who contributed to the success of the event, the last in the 2023 French cultural season.

During the literary evening, Malak Halabi, a Princess Nourah University lecturer and specialist in French language and literature, presented six contemporary poets: Abed Alillah Al-Malek, Michelle Hourani, Ghalia Abdeen, Ghassem Alkhunaizi, Mohamed Al-Herz, and Ines Moatamri.

Musicians, including Ehab Abdin Talal Abbas and Suhail Al-Habbashi, also gave performances.

Saudi poet Al-Malek created and animated “Mawazine Al-Bouh,” supervised the Abaad Literary Forum, and published two collections of poetry and novels.

Hourani, a writer and poet originally from Lebanon, has had seven collections published in France and one in Belgium.

Abdeen, a professor of clinical nutrition at King Saud University, began her poetry training at the Nizar Qabbani School of Poetry, and writes in free verse.

Alkhunaizi, a Saudi writer and translator, has published two collections of poetry, “Little Illusions” (1995) and “Testing the Senses” (2014). In 2021, his poems “Nuages dans les nuages” were published in France. In the same year, he received the Sargon Boulus Prize for poetry and translation.

Saudi poet, journalist and literary critic Al-Herz has produced several works and four collections of poetry, including “Lighter than a feather, deeper than pain,” published in 2022 by Al-Kounouz Al-Adabia.

Moatamri is a professor of French literature at the University of Tunis and a professor in the translation department of Princess Nourah University. Her writings and poetry have been presented in various volumes and anthologies.

The poetry night is an opportunity to celebrate the richness and creativity of French and Saudi culture, and to strengthen ties and build bridges between Saudi Arabia and France.