Literary figures from 26 countries submitted their English versions of their book to the International Ritual Poetry Festival, said the director of the event.
Seyyed Abdollah Hosseini made the remarks during the press conference of the event held in Tehran’s Arts Bureau on Wednesday.
According to iribnews.ir, a total of 600 English works have been participating in the event, he said, adding that Persian and English sections were held separately.
The closing ceremony of the event will be held on August 31, with Iran’s Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili and Head of Iran’s Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) Mohammad-Mehdi Imanipour.
Hosseini said that the event is Iran’s biggest ever literary awards.
On the importance of poetry, Hosseini said that at the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), poetry was the only available means of art capable of expressing the voices of the oppressed people.
He added that the Holy Prophet was always a source of inspiration for ritual poets.
Ali Mo’allem Damghani, Ali Mousavi-Garmaroudi, and Alireza Qazveh will be commemorated during the closing ceremony, Hosseini added.
The festival’s Scientific Secretary Qassem Sarrafaan said that the festival aims to generate motivation for writing high-quality ritual poems, adding that the country has not had such a great poetry festival for years.
On the process of evaluation, he said that 460 works reached the semi-final stage and, finally, 16 literary works are competing in the final stage, noting that the top 10 works will be awarded at the closing ceremony.


 

A multi-purpose arts and culture complex will be set in motion in Gonabad County, in Iran’s northeastern Khorasan Razavi Province, by the end of the current Persian year (ending on March 20, 2023).
The complex will be launched with the cooperation of Gonabad Department of Iranian Youth Cinema Association and a provincial benefactor Seyyed Mohammad Zabihi-Shahri, ILNA reported.
The 320-meter complex is equipped with a movie theater for 150 people, a black box theater for 110 people for performances, a cinema museum and a photo gallery.
The cinema museum will be the first of its kind in the province.
Zabihi-Shahri has already helped the province to have more schools, mosques as well as cultural and educational centers.

 

Two clay vessels dating back to 3,000 years ago were found in Marvdasht in the southern Iranian province of Fars.
The vessels belong to the Proto-Elamite (Susa III/Banesh) period, the caretaker of Marvdasht’s Administration of Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism told Fars News Agency.
Mohammad-Taqi Qalenoei added that the clay vessels were analyzed, registered, and later transported to a base in Takht-e Jamshid. He described one vessel as a clay bowl with geometrical engravings in the shape of triangles on the outer brim and the other vessel as a simple cauldron made of red fire sand which was possibly used for preserving spices and certain liquids.
So far, numerous antiquities dating back to the Elamite, Achaemenid, Sassanid, and Islamic periods have been found in the historical sites of Marvdasht County including Takht-e Jamshid, Naqsh-e Rostam, Naqsh-e Rajab, Tall-e Bakun, and Miyanrud.

 

Saudi Arabia decided after two years to remove the preventive barriers around the Holy Kaaba, allowing worshippers to once more touch the house of Allah.
Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sudais, who leads the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques, announced the decision, reported arabnews.com.
The barriers were installed to ensure social distancing between pilgrims.
The area surrounding the Kaaba, where pilgrims circumambulate seven times, was closed in March 2020 for sterilization as a preventive measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
Al-Sudais said that this decision showed the care the Saudi leadership took for visitors to the Grand Mosque and its devotion to facilitating their rituals in a safe and spiritual atmosphere, given the huge number of visitors that the mosque had begun to witness with the start of the Umrah season.
He said the presidency was cooperating with all sectors operating in the Grand Mosque to receive pilgrims and provide all necessary services.
He extended his gratitude to King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for their care, attention, and support for the Two Holy Mosques. He prayed to Allah to bless them for their good deeds.
The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques said it had begun preparations to provide services early on, in line with crowd management plans, and prepared the Grand Mosque in Mecca and its courtyards to facilitate Umrah rituals for pilgrims with ease and tranquility.

 

Hollywood producer Janet Yang was named the new president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences by the organization’s Board of Governors. Yang, who is of Chinese descent, is the first Asian person ever to hold the position and the fourth woman behind Fay Kanin (1979-1983), Cheryl Boone Isaacs (2013-2017) and Bette Davis (Davis resigned after two months in 1941).
Yang is beginning her first term as president and her second term as a governor-at-large, Variety wrote.
“Janet is a tremendously dedicated and strategic leader who has an incredible record of service at the Academy,” said Bill Kramer, Academy CEO. “I am thrilled that she is taking on the esteemed role of Academy president and look forward to working closely with her on our shared vision to serve our membership, celebrate the collaborative arts and sciences of motion pictures, and inspire the next generation of filmmakers.”
Yang, 66, is an established figure in Hollywood who has worked with filmmakers including Oliver Stone and Kathryn Bigelow. Her previous credits include ‘The Joy Luck Club’ (1993), ‘The People vs. Larry Flynt’ (1996) and the Oscar-nominated ‘Over the Moon’ (2020). A member of the Academy’s Producers Branch since 2002, Yang most recently served on the board as vice president and chair of the Membership Committee and, before that, the Membership and Governance Committee. She is also co-chair of the Academy’s Asian Affinity Group.
One governor described her to Variety as “a very smart and seasoned professional”.
Per the Academy bylaws, presidents are elected for one-year terms and cannot be elected for more than four consecutive terms. Yang follows past presidents including well-known figures such as Frank Pierson, Karl Malden and Gregory Peck.