The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is among the global presence of Nobel Prize winners for literature for the first time; The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) concluded the ninth edition of the Iqra Competition on Saturday evening, October 12, with the closing ceremony continuing over two days at the centre's headquarters in Dhahran, eastern Saudi Arabia. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the winners were crowned in the presence of Engineer Amin Hassan Al-Nasser, Chairman of Saudi Aramco and its Chief Administrator, and Nabil Abdullah Al-Jamia, Executive Vice President of Human Resources and Support Services. This year's closing ceremony activities included this session of the competition with the participation of Abdul Razzaq Karneh – Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature for the year 2021 and writer Olga Tokarczuk – Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature for the year 2018. During, he reached the Ithra stage amid unparalleled public enthusiasm. Get inspired by their stories of success and life milestones after reaching the international level.
read the stars
Over the course of two days, 16,000 visitors were immersed in an atmosphere filled with the passion of knowledge and held their breath while waiting for the announcement of the final results of the competition, where Morocco's Mariam Oued won the Reader of the Year award for the Arab world. Through the jury, the Most Promising Reader award was won by 10-year-old Moroccan girl Fatima Kettani, while Iraqi Hira al-Karkhi won the Text of the Year award, and the Reading School award. International National Generation Education School in Hafar Al-Batin (Eastern Saudi Arabia), while Saudi Arabia's Safia Al-Ghabri was able to receive the Audience Reader Award, and for the Reading Ambassador Award, she was awarded the only teacher -Suhaimi. .
Read about his dazzling career achievements
At the beginning of the ceremony, Noura Al-Zameel, Program Director at Iqra, gave a speech in which she said that the Iqra competition recorded bright achievements in its journey that began in 2013, noting that during those years the competition was able to offer 9 courses. organize the event, in which more than 225 thousand applicants registered, and its members received about 48 a thousand educational hours, while more than 600 speakers from 30 countries around the world took part in strengthening their abilities and talents, readers According to Al-Zameel, reflecting on the visit, where 3 writers who won the Nobel Prize for Literature stood on the stage of the Ithra Theater amidst a host of Arab and international cultural icons, he said that “Every year, Ithra has always added new elements to the competition's structure, such as Iqra Travel, Iqra Marathon, and the Koutoubia Exhibition, to deepen its role in building an Arab generation that reads and engages with books,” declaring that Two awards have been created in this year's edition, namely the Promising Reader Award and the Text of the Year Award.
culture and language
Continuing the Iqra Competition journey, the event featured dialogue sessions for a number of writers and poets, including Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for the year 2018, who spoke about writing as a medium. Described in. While defending others, he said: “Literature and writing show the different ways in which languages began throughout history. Each succeeding generation keeps its own language and describes the world as it sees it, Recognizing that culture is a process of complex structures, connect private and public languages.
Ahlam shook hands with Saudi audience for the first time
“This is my first encounter with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” with these words the writer and novelist Ahlam Mosteghanemi began her session, during which she affirmed that today's readers are heroes, so read as if you will live forever. And write as if you would die tomorrow,” according to his description. He also explained that “Writers always doubt their most successful works, so it is more difficult to believe that a writer is born great,” The session continued by talking about his book “Memory of the Flesh”, his winning the Naguib Mahfouz Prize, and the series of achievements that Mosteghenami was able to consolidate during his literary journey that extends to today.
Nobel brains on Saudi stage
For the first time, two winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature appeared on the Saudi stage in a dialogue moderated by Abdullah Al-Rashed, Director of the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), in which they discussed a range of topics. Between artificial intelligence, writing, and relationships with readers and the nation, Olga said, “I appreciate the Internet and the network.” A dream and it was misused to harm others. “I have a different way of answering this question, my real homeland is Zanzibar, and I would say without hesitation that I haven't been there for a very long time, and if someone had asked me about it in the UK So I would say Canterbury.
The festive activities continued on the second day and included a “Podcast with Sahoud”, “Discussion on Idol's novel” and other activities with the visitors wandering the corridors of the “Koutoubia” and the participation of an elite group. Writers from all over the world, who gathered to support readers and raise the status of reading at the Arab and international level.