Session 10:
Shawqi and Lamartine Session, Paris, France, 31 October - 3 November 2006:

          This session bears the names of the two poets: Ahmed Shawqi - the Prince of Arab poets - and Alphonse Lamartine - the great French poet. Ahmed Shawqi was chosen because he was a prominent Arab poet and one of the most prolific and diverse. In 1927 the Arab poets chose him unanimously as their Laureate. He was familiar with French culture as he had studied law at Montpellier University and graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Paris. He then spent some time in the French capital studying French literature.

          As for the French poet Lamartine, he was unanimously chosen by critics as one of the best French poets. In addition, he was fond of the Arab east, and he had remarkable views about the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and the book of Mohammed’s life.

          Moreover, he visited the East and was fond of Lebanon. He left behind literary works which enriched the history of humanitarian literature all over the world.

          During the 27th meeting in Cairo on 15/01/2005, the Foundation’s Board of Trustees unanimously decided to organize the next session in Paris in 2006.

          Paris was chosen as a venue for the tenth session to fulfil the Foundation’s desire of re-communicating with the West and conducting a dialogue with it on civilization grounds, especially after the success achieved during the ninth session, which was held in Spain. Thus, the Foundation was encouraged to take another step towards Europe with the aim of pursuing the dialogue of civilizations between the East and West. Furthermore, Paris is deemed the capital of international culture and currently inhabits a large Arab community exceeding five million. The meeting was held with technical cooperation from the Paris based UNESCO organization.

The awards were distributed as follows:

1 - The Honorary Prize in Poetic Creativity: the Kuwaiti poetess, Dr. Suad Al-Sabah

2 - The Creativity Prize in Poetry Criticism: Jointly won by the two Jordanian critics Dr. Bassam Qattus and Dr. Mohammad Ibrahim Hawaar

3 - The Best Diwan Prize: The Syrian poet Reda Rajab

4 - The Best Poem Prize: The Egyptian poet Jameel Abdulrahman