Tehran (IP) - The 17th Fajr International Poetry Festival is underway and will continue until Friday.

Iran PressIran news: The 17th Fajr International Poetry Festival started on January 17 in a ceremony in the city of Shiraz, the birthplace of famous poets Hafez and Saadi.

Reza Esmaeli, the secretary of the 17th Fajr International Poetry Festival, at the press conference on Sunday stated that the number of works was 2700 last year, but this year it has reached 3125, which shows a 20% increase.

Esmaeli added that the festival is being held in three sections: adult poetry (classic, new, dialogue), children and teenagers, and criticism and research.

Pointing out that the judging of this festival has been done with high precision, he said: This year, the opening ceremony of this festival was held in Shiraz province, and meetings were also held in Khorasan and Lorestan.

He called the special meeting of new poetry at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad the distinguishing feature of this festival.

Following this press conference, Ali Ramezani, CEO of Book and Literature House of Iran said: Poetry is the national wealth of Iranians, and poetry belongs to the Persian language.

He added: Persian poetry has had many ups and downs in the past century, which is of interest.

Referring to the foreign participants of this festival, Ramezani said: The international gathering will be held on Tuesday in Abu Musa Island and poets from 7 countries including India, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria.

In the end, he said: The closing ceremony of the 17th Fajr International Poetry Festival will be held on Friday, at the IRIB Conference Center in Tehran.

214

Read More:

Closing ceremony of 16th Fajr Int'l Poetry Festival underway in Tehran