Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, UNESCO will host a major international symposium celebrating the centennial of Emirati poet Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais (1925–2025).
Entitled “Sultan Al Owais… A Journey of Poetry, A Journey of Giving”, the event will take place on September 11–12, 2025, at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. Organized by the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation in cooperation with UNESCO, the two-day gathering will bring together leading scholars, poets, and orientalists from across the world.
The program features lectures, poetry readings, and panel discussions with prominent voices from Europe, the Middle East, and the Gulf, including Dr. Barbara Michalak (Poland), Dr. Stefan Weidner (Germany), Dr. Boutros Hallaq (France), Dr. Shawqi Abdul Amir (Iraq/France), and Emirati intellectuals such as Dr. Fatima Al Sayegh, Dr. Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, and Abdul Ghaffar Hussein.
Complementing the symposium, an art exhibition titled “Words that Love Beauty” will showcase works inspired by Al Owais’s poetry, alongside a curated book display and French translations of selected poems. The opening ceremony will feature a short documentary on the poet’s life, followed by a performance of traditional Eastern music by Fawaz Baqer and the Takht Sharqi Ensemble.
UNESCO has officially declared 2025 the “Year of Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais,” acknowledging his literary and cultural impact. Beyond Paris, centennial celebrations include art exhibitions, concerts, documentary films, reprints of his works, and the issuance of commemorative stamps and coins.
Born in 1925 in Al Heera, Sharjah, Al Owais combined a life in trade with a passion for poetry. He began publishing in the 1970s and went on to become a leading voice of modern Emirati literature, especially in love poetry. His works, compiled in The Collected Poems of Sultan Al Owais (1993), place him among the influential second generation of Al Heera poets.
In 1987, he established the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Award, one of the Arab world’s most prestigious literary honors, recognizing achievements in poetry, fiction, drama, and criticism.
Through his verse and philanthropy, Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais left a legacy that continues to shape Emirati and Arab culture, now celebrated on a global stage.
TunisianMonitorOnline (Douha Saafi)
