Sheikh Zayed Book Award Hosts Seminar on Tolerance in Culture, Literature and History
Date December, 22 2019
Location St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi
Held under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Tolerance, the Sheikh Zayed Book Award organised an international seminar on the role of tolerance in culture, literature and history on Sunday, December 22, at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi.
The event brought together a distinguished group of Arab and international intellectuals, educators, writers and diplomats, who explored, over three sessions, the impact of tolerance on literature, thought, history, language and other disciplines.
Following a welcome address by HE Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, Secretary General of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, the first plenary session took place. Moderated by Dr. Khalil Al Shaikh, member of the Award's Scientific Committee, ‘Tolerance: The Term, Concept, and Evolution’ featured participation from Dr. Dheyaa Al Kaabi, Assistant Professor of Narratives and Modern Literary Criticism at the University of Bahrain; Dr. Ridwan Al Sayyid, Lebanese author and academic; and Dr. Abdulla Al Ghathami, Professor of Criticism and Theory in the Arabic Language Department of the Faculty of Arts at King Saud University.
The second session, ‘Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Gandhi: Ideas on Tolerance’, featured HE Turki bin Abdullah Al-Dakhil, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the UAE; Professor Zikrur Al Rahman, Director of the India-Arab Cultural Centre and Centre for West Asian Studies at the National Islamic University in Delhi, India; and French novelist and writer Gilbert Sinoué. The panel was moderated by Abdullah Majid Al Ali, Acting Executive Director of the Dar Al Kutub Sector at the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi.
Dr. Fatima Al Mazrouei, Emirati author and critic, chaired the final session entitled ‘The Values Embedded in Poetry’. The three featured speakers were Sultan al Ameemi, an Emirati writer, poet and Director of the Abu Dhabi Poetry Academy; Dr. Mohammed Hajjo, author and Professor of Higher Education at Mohammed V University, Morocco; and the Iraqi poet and Professor of Modern Arabic Literature and Criticism, Dr. Ali Jaafar Al-Allaq.
Speakers

Dr. Dheyaa Al Kaabi
Assistant Professor of Narratives and Modern Literary Criticism at the University of Bahrain, Bahrain

Dr. Ridwan Al Sayyid
Author and Scholar, Lebanon

Dr. Abdulla Al Ghathami
Academic, Literary and Cultural Critic, KSA

Dr. Khalil Al Shaikh
A seasoned Researcher, Critic and Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at Jordan's Yarmouk University, and a Scientific Committee Member of Sheikh Zayed Book Award

HE Turki Al Dakhil
Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the UAE, KSA

Prof. Zikrur Al Rahman
Director, India Arab Cultural Centre and Centre for West Asian Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, India

Dr. Gilbert Sinouè
Author, Novelist, Scriptwriter and Screenwriter, France

Abdulla Majed Al Ali
Executive Director of the National Library Sector at the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi and Member of the Board of Trustees of Sheikh Zayed Book Award

Sultan Al Ameemi
Writer, Poet and Director of the Abu Dhabi Poetry Academy

Dr. Mohammed Hajjo
Author and Professor of Higher Education at Mohammed V University, Morocco

Dr. Ali Jaafar Al Allaq
Poet and Critic, Iraq

Dr. Fatima Al Mazrouei
Author and Critic, UAE