UNESCO designates 2025 for celebrating the centenary of Emirati poet Sultan Al Owais

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

UNESCO has designated the year 2025 as the year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Emirati poet Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais, born in 1925 AD.

This accreditation came after reviewing the file of the poet Sultan bin Ali Al Owais, which was presented by the United Arab Emirates National Committee for Education, Culture and Science, at the 42nd session of the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

This initiative is one of UNESCO’s most prominent initiatives to celebrate symbols of authentic culture around the world in various fields of thought, knowledge and science.

The Sultan bin Ali Al Owais Foundation had prepared a huge file on the late poet Sultan bin Ali Al Owais (1925 – 2000) to submit it to UNESCO, and the National Committee of the United Arab Emirates for Education, Culture and Science did not hesitate to support the file and stand with this great initiative, which bore fruit. By adopting the year 2025 as the year to celebrate the centenary of the poet Sultan Al Owais.

In turn, the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation extended its sincere thanks and appreciation to the Ministry of Culture and Youth and the exceptional efforts of the National Committee of the United Arab Emirates for Education, Culture and Science in enriching the file, enriching its vocabulary, and bringing it to this level of international appreciation that prompts pride.

Immediately after receiving the news, the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation began preparing for this great occasion with multiple programmes, events and activities that include various aspects of the poet’s life. A busy cultural program is currently being prepared that will launch at the beginning of the year 2025 through art exhibitions, documentaries, picture books, postage stamps, commemorative coins, and more. One of the activities that celebrates an Emirati poetic tradition that has a clear mark on local and Arab culture.

It is noteworthy that the poet Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais is considered one of the pioneers of the renaissance in the Emirates, in its economic, social and cultural aspects.

Sultan Bin Ali Bin Abdullah Al Owais was born in the town of Al Heera in the Emirate of Sharjah in 1925, where he received his initial education. His family were pearl merchants. His father, Ali bin Abdullah Al Owais, was one of the skilled pearl merchants (Al Tawashin), so Sultan Al Owais practiced trade with his father. In addition to the pearl trade, he worked in various other jobs, and moved between India and the Emirates.

He began writing poetry in 1947, and his first poem was published in 1970 in the Beirut magazine Al-Wurud.

He is considered an expert in his poetry, even though he began composing it in his early life. He is considered at the forefront of poets in the Emirates, the link between two generations of writers and poets, and the forefront of poetry poets in the Arabian Gulf.

The poetic production of Sultan Al Owais touches the hearts of many people of all walks of life, as he is sincere in translating the depth of the self without affectation. He published a poetry collection entitled “Mirrors of the Gulf” in Beirut in 1985, and he has a collection in which most of his poetry was collected, entitled “The Diwan of Sultan Al Owais.”

The Complete Collection 1993. According to academic studies, he was classified as one of the second generation of Al-Hira poets, which included the poet Sultan Al Owais (1925 – 2000), the poet Sheikh Saqr Al Qasimi (1924 – 1994), and the poet Khalfan Bin Musabih (1923 – 1946).

Many critics and scholars have addressed and written about him, and these studies have been collected in a book issued by the Emirates Literary Writers Union entitled “Sultan Al Owais, a Merchant Fascinated by Poetry.”