Fajr Intl. Poetry Festival honors Iranian literati

TEHRAN,Feb.6 (MNA) -- Five Iranian poets will be honored at the opening ceremony of the 6th edition of the Fajr International Poetry Festival on February 7 in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah. Poets Mohammad-Javad Mohabbat, Ali Shams Alizadeh, Farshid Yusefi, Alireza Daneshpajuh and Abdolreza Radfar were selected as the guests of honor by the policy making council of the festival at the ceremony. A total of 1451 poets with 50,000 works are participating in the festival, most of whom are from Tehran Province, Parviz Beigi mentioned in a press release. In a press conference ten days ago, the deputy minister of culture for poetry and literature Yahya Talebian said that the festival organizers plan to honor veteran poets at this edition of the gala. “Fajr poetry should be free in theme, form and all poets from all over the world can participate at the festival. We have selected those poets who are representatives of their countries,” he added. He said that the submitted poems are judged without any bias or personal preference for competing at the festival. A section of the festival is dedicated to “The Effect of Poetry in the Awakening of the Nations”, he said. He also announced that the festival will also hold an international conference on Islamic awakening and poetry on February 19. The festival will be concluded during a ceremony on February 20 in Tehran.