Culture & Education | Friday 14 August, 2015 3:08 am |

Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and head of the supervising committee of Souq Okaz opened the activities of the ninth edition of the festival on Wednesday.

A number of intellectuals, poets, academics, artists and craftsmen from the Kingdom and abroad attended the event.

The governor announced a new prize on Thursday as part of Souq Okaz annual prizes for the cognitive business entrepreneurship, saying that the prize would be equal to Souq Okaz prize for poetry.
Iraqi poet Hizabr Mahmood Ali was decorated at the event. He was presented with the Okaz 1436 plaque and SR300,000 in cash after emerging triumphant in a competition that had 26 poets from Saudi Arabia and a number of Arab countries.
Saudi poet Hassan Muhammad Tawashi was named as Okaz Youth Poet. He was decorated with a plaque and SR100,000 in cash.
Many artists were honored in other categories, such as Arabic calligraphy, photography and painting.
The governor said the festival will take place again next year. “Souq Okaz is not only a festival for poetry. It is our link with the past,” he said.

“We want to have a window on the future and the Saudi individuals need to see their future through that window,” he said. “We are talking about an intellectual, cultural and creative communication window, which enhances the communication between us and the whole world.”
“People should see that humanity needs to work on elevating the status of humans on the face of this earth. Through his adherence to the Arab and Islamic laws, Saudi Arabia can be the best model on this earth,” he said.
Souq Okaz represents a unique and important tourism landmark in the Kingdom. The present day Souk Okaz was re-created on the same location where the ancient Souq Okaz used to be held historically.

The current souq reveals all of the glorious past and the modernity of the present.
The importance of the souq lies in its historic symbolism as the original source of Arabic central culture as a destination for ancient Arab intellectuals and poets and people passionate about culture and literature.