The cultural scene was drawn to the holding of two poetry events in the Jazan region; This sparked controversy in a community fond of controversy. Upon investigating the reasons behind the Literary Society's insistence on holding the poetry festival on schedule, it became clear that the climate played a significant role. Humidity, heat, climate change, wind speed, and tidal fluctuations all contributed to adhering to the date recommended by experts in the Farasan Sea. Meanwhile, the Jazan Literary Club maintained its schedule due to its connection with the Jazan Winter Program and the fact that the Farasan gathering is located outside the Jazan gathering area. Here is a survey of the viewpoints of writers and supervisors. Poet Abdulrahman Moukli emphasized that sponsors are responsible for distributing cultural events across multiple locations and times. He considered competition essential and beneficial for cultural enrichment. However, he believes that having multiple poetry events simultaneously indicates a flaw in the scheduling and location. He called for gatherings to be organized and announced in advance, utilizing governance and digital platforms, and for organizers to appoint specialized advisory committees, rather than relying on individual efforts. The work is done as if these gatherings are private property. He added: The Knights of Poetry Gathering is held under the auspices of the Literature Association, and in Jazan city, a poetry gathering is held under the auspices of the Jazan Literary Club. The venue is the Jazan region, and the cultural institutions are affiliated with the state. Al-Mokli asked: Are they short on time, or are these gatherings subject to market forces? He answered: Anyone who knows the basics of cultural work and the role of culture in serving society cannot be satisfied with this cultural activity. He expressed his displeasure with the authorities concerned with the Jazan winter season, as Jazan is bigger than individual initiatives and improvised cultural projects.

For his part, poet Ali Al-Amir expressed his good faith in everyone, and believes that Jazan experiences ideal weather conditions during these days every year. Therefore, those in charge of the two poetry gatherings at the Literary Club and in Farasan were keen to take advantage of the weather, especially since Jazan experiences high temperatures, humidity, and sometimes dust in most seasons of the year.

Poetry gatherings are wonderful and important, and they undoubtedly create a cultural movement that raises the profile of the region and the organizers alike. The region is witnessing a media presence, and it is present in the imaginations of poets and sometimes in their poems. We continue to remember and thank the organizers during and after the gathering. Allow me to take advantage of your esteemed newspaper to thank them through it and congratulate them on their successes.

Hassan bin Mohammed Al-Zahrani, head of the Al-Baha Literary Club, believes that there is no intention behind holding cultural events at the same time in one region, because every entity that holds such events is keen to be unique for several reasons, including the media, the audience, and the cooperation of official bodies, among others.

He pointed out that the competition is usually in the quality of the event and the participating names, but at the same time it is completely excluded and I do not think it is appropriate for an intellectual, explaining that this rare problem is easier to solve than we expect, which is to have a concerned party in the Ministry of Culture. Nevertheless, I see every cultural movement as positive, even if there is a conflict in timing.

This is what we witnessed in the past few days in the Jazan region. However, both events were a resounding success. From what I saw, the names participating in both were remarkable, and the audience attendance was above expectations. Neither event affected the other, but rather made us experience, as we closely followed, a sense of elation, happiness, and pride in the existence of this beautiful and honorable cultural movement.

As for the distribution of events between regions and governorates, I reiterate that this is primarily the responsibility of the Ministry, and secondarily the responsibility of those in charge of these events.

Hassan Al-Salhabi: We are working within the Jazan Winter Festival

Hassan Al-Salhabi, head of the Jazan Literary Club, explained that the sixth poetry forum was generously sponsored by the Prince of Jazan region, as it was part of the Jazan Winter Festival 2025 program. The club had previously implemented the Winter Evenings program, which included more than 15 evenings, ranging from poetry and narrative to criticism, heritage, and fine art. It received a large audience and attendance, and its implementation date was coordinated with the General Administration of the Festival. He emphasized that the Jazan Literary Club sees no harm in holding more than one poetry or cultural gathering simultaneously. Jazan is a region of poetry and culture, broader and deeper than other regions in the Kingdom and the Arab world. This is a gift and a privilege bestowed by God throughout the ages, and it is undoubtedly one of the most important starting points for the literary movement in the region. This is in addition to the audience we enjoy wherever we go in the provinces. If other gatherings were held at the same time, in addition to the Jazan and Farasan gatherings, they would have been resoundingly successful and would have been followed by the public with great enthusiasm and interest. This was clearly evident in the evenings of the Sixth Poetry Gathering, which achieved success exceeding all expectations in terms of organization and audience attendance. He pointed out that all gatherings and festivals contribute to achieving the strategies of the Ministry of Culture and the Kingdom's Vision 2030, which is rich in creativity and has made the cultural work system one of the pillars of quality and advancement. This stems from a deep belief that true and influential art and culture are capable of shaping awareness, fortifying and strengthening citizens, and thus are capable of portraying a facet of the nation and its unique character. the world.

Abdullah Muftah: The Literary Society's plan is long-standing... and we have no connection to literary clubs

The CEO of the Literature Association, Abdullah Muftah, explained that the association's professional projects are implemented according to an executive plan approved by three entities: the Board of Directors, the General Assembly, and the Ministry of Culture, respectively. The executive plan is only approved if it contains precise details for each project, and the most important of these details is what is known as the "Timeline" or (timeline) accompanying each project. We become obligated and committed to this timeline during the implementation of the projects. Regarding the "Farsan Poetry Forum" project, its (timeline) is calculated with great precision because it is linked to the sea and to Farsan Island. As you know, the forum is held in January of each year, and it comes as a dedication to the concept of cultural tourism, as it is based on visiting the most important natural landmark in the Farsan Islands, which is the "Qandal Forests." These forests cannot be entered when they are bare because they are a semi-shallow area, and the control of entry to them is the state of the "tide and ebb tides" and their timing. Therefore, we ask the maritime experts from the people of Farasan Island to determine the appropriate time to enter this area, and based on that, the date of the meeting is determined with all accuracy. Then, the timeline for the Farasan Poetry Meeting project is written in the executive plan before approval. It is impossible to advance or delay the date for two reasons: the first is due to the difference in the dates of the tides, which are directly based on the movements of the moon, and the second is due to the approval of the timeline of the executive plan by three parties, as I mentioned.

The Professional Literature Association extends bridges of partnership and cooperation with official public and private bodies, organizations, and institutions concerned with literary and cultural affairs in the Kingdom in general. It greatly welcomes these partnerships, which are required for the advancement of the literary sector and are considered among the important objectives that the association is keen on. In fact, we encourage extending bridges of partnership and cooperation with them, provided that these establishments have a legal reference and possess official documents that confirm their legality. This is because activating activities and implementing projects requires approvals and permits from the relevant authorities, and these approvals are only issued in accordance with these legal documents that I mentioned, and we have no relation to literary clubs.

The activities and events, specifically, represent only 10% of the strategies and roles outlined for the Professional Literature Association, which number 10 strategies. 90% of these strategies are concerned with activating the professional role that the professional association should play in the literary sector, and all of them serve the Saudi writer and the sector in general, as the Saudi writer now has a real umbrella that he can rely on and resort to whenever he wants. I will mention some examples and roles that the association has played, as the Professional Literature Association made understandings with the Literature, Publishing and Translation Authority to take the lead in the affairs of the “Saudi Literature” track in the “Translate Initiative” and nominated - in the first stage - 100 creative books by 100 Saudi creators (in the fields of: narrative, poetry, criticism) to be translated into more than 8 languages ​​through three professional committees (narrative committee, poetry committee, criticism committee), and the three committees worked on nominating 200 Saudi creative literary books, 100 of which were submitted to the Authority to take their way to translation into different languages. The Professional Literary Association also submitted recommendations for legislation to protect Saudi writers during international representation. As we know, some literary invitations abroad come directly to Saudi writers from international organizations outside the Kingdom. Sometimes, some of these organizations or institutions are not legitimate or are suspicious, etc. The writer is unaware of this, which may expose him to legal repercussions. In such cases, who protects the writer? This is where the Professional Literary Association comes in. If the writer approaches it and submits a formal request regarding the invitation he received with sufficient notice, the association must take the necessary steps to communicate with the relevant authorities to obtain official approval upon which the writer can base his acceptance of the invitation. This is in addition to the association's roles in nominating writers for local, Arab, and international awards, which it submits throughout the year, as well as developing cultural programs to accompany major literary events in the Kingdom.

The professional roles that the association plays are numerous and significant and cannot be enumerated in this space. One last point I would like to mention: The Professional Literature Association - currently - is working on more than 6 projects that are running concurrently; Some of them are foundational, some are central, and some are qualitative. At the moment I am writing these words, the association is implementing the “Critical Spaces Program,” which began a month ago by commissioning 12 literary researchers to write serious critical papers on important literary themes to enrich the field of literary criticism. This will be followed by the publication of a critical book bearing the same name, “Critical Spaces,” the first issue. Then, a major critical forum will be held in Riyadh at the association’s headquarters and on its stage in February to present these papers, discuss them, and interact with them. The association is also working on the final touches to launch the “Adib Project,” which is concerned with young people, the “Specialized Literary Workshops” project, and the “Transforming the Saudi Novel into a Cinematic Script” project. Here, I must mention that the Professional Literature Association has implemented 192 literary events in 35 Saudi cities, and through these events, it has provided an opportunity for 562 writers to speak.