Sharjah : The wonder and beauty of Arabic poetry was in the spotlight at the 41st Sharjah
International Book Fair, when UAE-based poets Amal Al Sahlawi and Lorca Spiti took
the stage to entertain the fair audience with their poignant and expressive poems.
Opening the panel discussion, the session moderator Emirati poetess and scholar Najat
Al Dhaheri, said that to understand the value of poetry, one has to enter into it quietly
with the heart. Promising an evening full of poetic brilliance, she pointed out that life is
never beautiful without the element of poetry in it. “Human beings are born to fly into the
skies, but the audience would be able to do so through words,” said Al Dhaheri.
Of the two poets who presented their works, Al Sahlawi, touched on themes of sorrow
and despair, regret, the game of life, luck, and fortune. The audience applauded as the
poetess contemplated life lived in the margins, the curiosity of the soul, and of living in
her imagination.
Spiti, a Lebanese poetess, who has six published collections of poetry and is releasing
a new collection on November 18, said that “through the medium of poetry, we are more
free than in reality.”
Spiti recited a poem praising the city of Sharjah, its beauty and charms, from its small
cafes to its resting places for seagulls and as the meeting place of poetry.