The 7th edition of the International Poetry Meetings opens today at the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences of Marrakech under the theme: "Poetry, a universal bridge between cultures".

Organised at the initiative of Lucile Bernard, founder of the Riad Sahara Nour Artistic Creation Centre, in partnership with the Dar Bellarj Foundation for Living Culture in Morocco and the Marrakech School of Visual Arts (ESAV), this event is being held until 2 June in the ochre city.

Faithful to its "policy of commitment and solidarity between peoples", this cultural gathering will bring together poets, academics, and lovers of rhymes and stanzas, advocating, "through their voices, the fundamental values of freedom and fraternity between different cultures".

Seven poets from diverse backgrounds representing six countries are participating in this beautiful poetic and human adventure this year. They are: Jean-Pierre Siméon (France), Mohamed Loakira (Morocco), a native of the host city, Nimrod (Chad), Mario Campaña (Ecuador), Stéphane Chaumet (France), Salah Al Hamdani (Iraq), and Víctor Rodríguez Núñez (Cuba).

For six days, they will lead various activities planned as part of this event, aimed essentially at promoting exchange and poetic expression.

Thus, as part of the "Retrospective" section, the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences of Marrakech is hosting a conference today on Rosa Parks (1913-2005), an iconic figure of the protest movement against racial segregation in the United States. It will be followed by a reading of texts by the Senegalese poet and politician Léopold Sédar Senghor (1906-2001). The latter is the first African to sit at the Académie française. The idea of this meeting, moderated by Nimrod Bena, is to "retrace the journey and work of authors or people who have marked their time", the organisers explain.

As part of the "Poets engage" programme, the Iraqi poet Salah Al Hamdani will meet this afternoon with teenagers from the Al Karam Association in Marrakech. The next morning (10 am), it will be the turn of the Moroccan poet Mohamed Loakira to meet with students from the Salah Eddine High School in Marrakech for a reading session.

On Friday, 1 June at 6:30 pm, the Palmeraie Museum "Art and Nature" will in turn host a conference on Andrée Chédid (1920-2011), a French woman of letters and poet of Lebanese origin. This conference will be moderated by the poet Jean-Pierre Siméon.

Saturday the 2nd will be dominated by the presentation of the "Sahara Nour Prize" to the three winners of the young Moroccan poetry competition (2012 edition), at the Dar Bellarj Foundation "Foundation for Living Culture in Morocco" (12 pm). Winners who will be designated by a jury composed of Mahi Binebine, Yassin Adnan, Moulay Sedik Rabbaj, Rachid Chraibi, Ali Iken, and Lucile Bernard.

A little later, at 5:30 pm, the Riad Sahara Nour Artistic Creation Centre will serve as the setting for the "Time for Poets" meeting. Here, "we are going to expand the speaking time, on one hand for young talents with 'One minute to read a poem', and on the other, by introducing into the programme a Creation Springboard: '3 authors, 3 voices', a helping hand from the Riad Sahara Nour to three established poets who will come to read an excerpt of their works in a preview of the Reading Evening at the Riad Sahara Nour Artistic Creation Centre", it is explained.

It should be noted that this edition also benefits from the partnership of the Palmeraie Museum "Art and Nature", the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences in Marrakech, and Marsam editions.

It should be emphasised that four musicians will enliven the evenings scheduled as part of these meetings. They are Mustapha Rihani (flute), Khalid Badaoui (lute), Khalid Isbah (guitar), and Lila Bogonin (vocals and piano).