Baghdad Hosts Critical Sessions and Poetry Evenings on al-Mutanabbi Street as Part of the 'Pioneers' Centennial'

Today, Friday, on al-Mutanabbi Street in central Baghdad, critical sessions and poetry and musical evenings were held as part of the "Centennial of the Pioneers" festival, which celebrates the 100th anniversary of the births of pioneering poets Badr Shakir al-Sayyab, Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati and Baland al-Haidari, and continues until tomorrow, Saturday.

Today's events included a morning critical session dedicated to the poet Baland al-Haidari, chaired by critic Ali Mutab Jasim, in which a number of critical studies were presented examining his poetic experience and his role in the renewal movement, with participation from Samir al-Khalil, Nawfal al-Nasser, Basheer Hajim, and Mahmoud Aayed Atiyah, and in the presence of poet Yahya al-Samawi, Thaer al-Azhari, critic and writer Zahra Ibrahim al-Khalidi, Ali Izz al-Din al-Khatib, alongside a number of writers, critics and those interested in cultural affairs.

A second critical session dedicated to the poet Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati was also held, chaired by critic Saad al-Tamimi, featuring presentations and critical readings addressing various aspects of his poetic experience, with participation from Bushra Musa Saleh, Muhammad Mazloom, Faiz al-Shara', and Abd Ali Hasan.

Evening events continued with poetry readings at the al-Mutassarrifiyya building in Zaqaq al-Saray on al-Mutanabbi Street, featuring several poets, along with a musical performance by artist Ali al-Salam, and the day's events concluded with a poetry evening at al-Jawahiri Hall at the headquarters of the General Union of Writers and Authors in Iraq.

The "Centennial of the Pioneers" festival is being held under the patronage of the Prime Minister and in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities and the General Union of Writers and Authors in Iraq, celebrating the contributions of the pioneering poets to the founding of the modern poetic movement in Iraq and the Arab world.

Al-Rashid Theater in central Baghdad hosted the festival's opening yesterday, Thursday, with a large official and cultural attendance.

In his speech during the ceremony, the head of the festival's supreme committee, the Prime Minister's cultural adviser and president of the General Union of Writers and Authors in Iraq, poet Aref al-Saadi, said: "We meet after a hundred years from the birth of three great poets who carried their souls, dreams and questions to the Arabic poem at a decisive historical moment in the memory of the whole world, not just the region."

Badr Shakir al-Sayyab, Abd al-Wahhab al-Bayati and Baland al-Haidari are considered among the poets who led innovation in the Arabic poem and created a poetic map that differs from the traditional pattern.