Held under the patronage of HE Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Tolerance.
The Sheikh Zayed Book Award is organising an international seminar on the role of tolerance in culture, literature and history next Sunday, December 22, at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, Abu Dhabi.
Held under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Tolerance, the event will bring together a distinguished group of Arab and international intellectuals, educators, writers and diplomats, who will explore over three sessions the impact of tolerance on literature, thought, history, language and other disciplines.
The seminar aims to promote the values of dialogue, acceptance of others and openness to different cultures. It builds on the approach of tolerance represented by the late Founding Father Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who worked relentlessly to foster an open, accepting environment in the UAE dominated by tolerance and respect.
Following a welcome address by HE Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, Secretary General of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, the first plenary session will take place. Moderated by Dr. Khalil Al Shaikh, member of the Award's Scientific Committee, ‘Tolerance: The Term, Concept, and Evolution’ will feature participation from Dr. Dheyaa Al Kaabi, Assistant Professor of Narratives and Modern Literary Criticism at the University of Bahrain; Dr. Ridwan Al Sayyid, Lebanese author and academic; and Dr. Abdulla Al Ghathami, Professor of Criticism and Theory in the Arabic Language Department of the Faculty of Arts at King Saud University.
The second session, ‘Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and Gandhi: Ideas on Tolerance’, will feature HE Turki bin Abdullah Al-Dakhil, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the UAE; Professor Zikrur Al Rahman, Director of the India-Arab Cultural Centre and Centre for West Asian Studies at the National Islamic University in Delhi, India; and French novelist and writer Gilbert Sinoué. The panel will be moderated by Abdullah Majid Al Ali, Acting Executive Director of the Dar Al Kutub Sector at the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi.
Dr. Fatima Al Mazrouei, Emirati author and critic, will chair a final session entitled ‘The Values Embedded in Poetry’. The three featured speakers are Sultan al Ameemi, an Emirati writer, poet and Director of the Abu Dhabi Poetry Academy; Dr. Mohammed Hajjo, author and Professor of Higher Education at Mohammed V University, Morocco; and the Iraqi poet and Professor of Modern Arabic Literature and Criticism, Dr. Ali Jaafar Al-Allaq.
For more information, and to register to attend, please visit
toleranceseminar.ae.