The first edition of the African Poetry Festival opened Friday evening, as part of the celebration of Rabat, capital of African culture.
This edition is organised under the high patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, by the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication and the House of Poetry (Bayt Achiir) in Morocco.
The opening ceremony of this literary event was attended by the Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, and the President of the House of Poetry in Morocco, Mourad Kadiri, as well as other intellectual figures from Morocco and other African countries.
In a statement to the press on this occasion, Bensaid stressed that the African Poetry Festival is an opportunity to celebrate Moroccan and African poetry in general, like other celebrations organized under the program “Rabat, capital of African culture”, since June 2022.
Thus, the minister noted that the success of the various cultural events held in Rabat stimulates the ministry to develop them further in order to make Rabat a gateway for African culture.
He also pointed out that the African Poetry Festival, in addition to paying tribute to poets who have published poetry collections and who have distinguished themselves at the national and continental levels.
For his part, Mr. Kadiri said that this event aims to bring together African poetic experiences and promote contact between poets and actors in the sector between Africa and Morocco.
The opening ceremony was marked by the awarding of the Grand Prix of African poetry, which this year bears the name of the Senegalese poet Léopold Sédar Senghor, to the Senegalese poet Amadou Lamine Sall.
Tribute was also paid to four well-known figures on the African poetry scene, namely the Moroccan poet Malika El Assimi, Patricia Kakou Marceau from Côte d’Ivoire, Fatoumata Keita from Mali and Bina Djangarg from Chad.