Cairo International Poetry Encounter faces criticism on its return

Egypt's only international poetry gathering is excluding eminent names and ignoring contemporary poetic forms, argue some young poets

The third Cairo International Poetry Encounter, opening after a two year hiatus, arrives amid a wave of criticism of its programme, speakers and guests by many poets who accused the organising committee of being estranged from the Arabic poetry scene.
This edition of the event, which will run from 18 – 21 March, was initially planned for 2011 but was delayed when the revolution broke out in Egypt.
The theme is ‘Spring of Poetry...Spring of the Revolution' and it celebrates the famous poets group 'Apollo,' which dominated the poetry scene in Egypt during the early decades of the 20th century.
The opening ceremony was held at the Hanager Theatre in the Opera House grounds in Zamalek, and was hosted by Egypt's Supreme Council for Culture (SCC).
Minister of Culture Saber Arab did not attend the opening due to his presence in the Vatican to attend the formal installation of Pope Francis on Tuesday 19 March.
Egyptian poet Ahmed Abdel Moati Hegazy gave the inauguration speech, in which he argued that the Poetry Encounter celebrates the poetry and the spring of the Arab revolutions, standing against those who ban art and oppose culture and free thought.
Hegazy raised the issue of current Egyptian conservative religious movements, and their statements against arts and culture, especially their recent statements against Nobel laureate writer Naguib Mahfouz.
“Now we gather here to celebrate poetry, to defend it against those who killed thinker Farag Fouda, stabbed Naguib Mahfouz in the 1980s and exiled Islamic thinker Nasr Abu Zeid," he said.
"Those who declared war on our heritage and monuments. Those who declared war on the Sphinx and the pyramids...I mean the devils of the desert.”
Said Tawfik, professor of philosophy and head of the SCC, said that he considered the encounter to be a kind of poetic resistance.
“When the revolution broke out, everything stopped but the revolution itself, and this encounter was delayed. But...every creative act is a revolution against conservative artistic forms,” he said.
Tawfiq argued that the need for poetry now is very urgent, with identities under threat.
“Poetry is the only art that preserves language; this is why we should recall its questions at a time when our identity is jeopardised by some political currents that do not understand what our identity means,” he said.
The programme of the encounter was heavily criticised by young Egyptians poets.
Poets Girgis Choukri and Mahmoud Kouranu declared their withdrawal from the encounter one day before the opening. Kourani told Ahram Online that they withdrew because the event excluded major, eminent names in the Arab poetry scene in favour of established and dominating figures.
“There's a domination by certain names and exclusion of others. The guests of the encounter do not represent the poetry scene, neither in Egypt nor in the Arab world. The committee, which planned this encounter, is living outside history,” Kourani said.
Young poet Ghada Khalifa told Ahram Online that the first look at the programme made her think that this conference were planned in the early 1980s.
“I couldn't believe they're still discussing the impact of the romantic poetic school on the poetry scene,” she said.
"They still do not acknowledge the new forms of poetry like the prose poems. The encounter is completely divorced from the modern and contemporary contexts."
Tunisian poet Monsef Al-Wahibi, who participated in the event, gave a speech in which he argued that the poetic gathering comes at a key moment in the life of the Arab nations, when the people of these nations are starting to take the reins of their future themselves.
The poetry encounter will close on Thursday, 21 March, with the announcement of the winner of the event's prize. In previous years, the prize was first given to the late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, and then to Ahmed Abdel Moati Hegazy.
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