Hope Connects Humanity At The Poetic Heart 2020

4th February 2020 - The 9th edition of the much-awaited annual poetry event – “Poetic Heart: Connecting Humanity” hosted by SGI Gulf was held on 2nd February 2020 at the EIBFS Auditorium Academic City, Dubai, UAE.

The theme for the poems for this edition were Peace, Universal Harmony, and Environment with an overarching emphasis on 'Creating Hope-Connecting Humanity" for the 9th edition of Poetic Heart.

Dr. Talal Al Junaibi renowned Emirati poet presented his poem ‘Space of Zayed’, the 1^st poem ever to travel to space along with UAE’s 1^st astronaut Hazzaa Ali Almansoori.

Over 12 International Poets and 30 student poets recited poems in Arabic, English, Hindi, Japanese, Bangla, Malayalam, Farsi amongst others. The musical performances by The Winchester School-Jebel Ali, Chorus Group Naseem, World Record Holder and Child Prodigy Suchetha Satish along with renowned singer Deb Chakraborty were a treat for the audience.

‘The Poetic Heart’ expanded its love for poetry to the ‘determined ones’ with the inclusion of ‘Special Needs’ participants at the event. This initiative was a joint effort with Emirates NBD’s ‘Together Limitless’ initiative that has helped to connect the ‘Determined’ minds to this platform.

The previous eight editions of the Poetic Heart event have met with resounding success with participation from established UAE and International poets, professional musicians and budding student poets.

The Poetic Heart has become a brand that resonates with peace and culture, where poets and musicians come together from different parts of the world and share the stage together along with student poets from schools across UAE.

The Poetic Heart found its humble beginnings when SGI-Gulf in association with Dubai Knowledge Village and Dubai International Academic City hosted a gathering of poets across the region at a poetry symposium under the banner of “The Poetic Heart: Connecting Humanity”. The event is held annually and celebrates the love of Poetry rooted in the local tradition. Initiated in 2012, it is a multi-lingual event based on themes of Peace, Friendship, Tolerance and Human dignity. The Poetic Heart stepped into its 9^th edition in 2020 with the theme of ‘Creating Hope’ and embarked on another inspirational journey of Poetry, Music and young aspirations expressed through a Kaleidoscope of many global languages. This annual event has over the past years brought together 73 International Poets, 21 Notable musicians and 159 school students and Determined One’s from 4 institutes in the goal to spread the essence of Poetry across society.

Over the past 9 years, the event has hosted International and Local poets including Dr. Shihab Ghanem, Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, Paolo Ruffilli, Dr. K Satchidanandan, Prof. Francesca Corrao, Wael Al-Sayegh, Silvan Salmanpour, George Yamazawa, Claudio Pozzani, Dr. Padmaja Sharma and Zeina Hashim Beck representing a kaleidoscope of over 15 languages worldwide.  The event has also intertwined poetry with music and has hosted over 21 musicians including Kamal Mussallam, Sami Yusuf, Nestor Torres, Jason Carter, Ebin George, Esther Eden, Siya Arora, Bisveena Sagheer, Suchetha Satish, Dev Chakraborty and SGI’s Chorus Naseem.

This initiative has promoted the love for poetry interluded with music and we look forward to the next edition of the initiative in 2021.