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Al Babtain Named Honorary President of the World Poetry Academy in Italy
Sunday 12 June, 2011
Poet Abdul Aziz Saud Al Babtain has been named Honorary President of the World Poetry Academy, which is based in the Italian city of Verona. Al Babtain succeeds Nobel Prize Laureate and Former President of Senegal Leopold Senghor.
Moreover, the Foundation of Abdul Aziz Saud Al Babtain Prize for Poetic Creativity was granted a permanent seat on the Higher Council of the Academy's Management Board; which consists of the President of the Academy and five other members. The World Poetry Academy consists of fifty members who are recognized poets from all over the world, including three winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The announcement was made by the President of the Academy, Giorgio Pasqua, in a ceremony hosted by the Municipality of Verona in celebration of the 10th anniversary of establishing the World Poetry Academy. Furthermore, the President of the Foundation of Abdul Aziz Saud Al Babtain Prize for Poetic Creativity, Poet Abdul Aziz Al Babtain, was awarded the Gold Medal of Verona and the city's honorary citizenship by the Mayor of Verona, Flavio Tosi, for being one of the most prominent personalities who have served culture and poetry and contributed to promoting dialogue between civilizations.
On this occasion, Al Babtain said: "Let us make poetry the conscience of the world that remains troubled by egocentricity and the racial and cultural boundaries that divide this universe, a universe that has been created as one." Moreover Al Babtain announced the Babtain Foundation initiative to support five poets who represent the five continents of the world to write together one poem, the first of its kind, which he vowed will be announced during a special ceremony with their attendance on March 21st of the coming year, as part of the celebrations of World Poetry Day in Verona.
It is worth mentioning that Italy had previously awarded Al Babtain the Order of Merit - Knight Grade, which he received from the former Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in 2009.
Flavio Tosi, Verona's Mayor, presented the prestigious Arab Gulf poet, and the Kuwait-based Abdulaziz Al-Babtain Prize for Creative Poetry Foundation (BPCPF) its golden medal, the city's most outstanding decorations, on the occasion of marking the 10th anniversary of establishing the World Poetry Academy which coincides with the World Poetry Day.
