Emirati poet Dr Shihab Ganem
Emirati poet Dr Shihab Ganem Image Credit: Virendra Saklani/Gulf News

A noble initiative by noted Emirati poet Dr Shihab Ganem, to let members of the local community interact with one another through the medium of poetry, ‘The Poetic Heart’, now in its eighth edition, aims to promote values such as peace, culture and harmony through a literary pursuit.

This initiative allows poets, musicians and school students to reach out to one another on a common platform – that of poetry.

According to sources in ‘The Poetic Heart’, in the last seven years, more than 75 well-known poets, 17 musicians and 65 students from various schools in the UAE have contributed to this nobel cross-cultural initiative through poetry and music.

Beyond Horizon: Conceptualised by Dubai-based Indian expatriate Dev Chakraborty from Kolkata, ‘Beyond Horizon’ aims to showcase the best of Bengal’s cultural facets to a UAE audience.

From the poems of Rabindranath Tagore to folk songs from Bengal’s hinterlands; from theatre shows to films, ‘Beyond Horizon’ aims to be the one-stop cultural destination in the UAE for all things Bengal and Bengali.

Poems, songs and theatrical productions originally produced in Bengali will be translated into Arabic and presented before the Gulf and Emirati audience.