Organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the next Vagif Poetry Days will be held on July 16-18.
This was reported to elchi by the Ministry of Culture.
It was stated that the event program, organized under the slogan “The Story of the Word,” aims to preserve the legacy of the prominent representative of Azerbaijani poetry, poet and statesman Molla Panah Vagif, protect national literary values, and contribute to the development of contemporary literary processes.
The poetry festival will begin on July 16 in Gazakh district, the birthplace of Molla Panah Vagif, and will continue on July 17 in the cultural capital, Shusha.
At the opening ceremony to be held in front of the Molla Panah Vagif Museum-Mausoleum Complex, speeches will be delivered by officials, writers, poets, and representatives of international organizations. Afterward, a stage composition titled “Hunter of the Word – My Heart Yearns for Karabakh,” dedicated to the 120th anniversary of People’s Poet Samad Vurgun, will be presented.
Within the framework of the Poetry Days, artistic compositions and music programs dedicated to the works of Molla Panah Vagif and classical Azerbaijani poetry will be presented, and literary events will be held.
There will also be important innovations in this year’s Poetry Days, including the launch of a “Book Stop” kiosk. At the same time, the 2nd Turkic World Young Poets Festival will be organized in Shusha in partnership with TURKSOY.
In addition, reader meetings with People’s Poets Sabir Rustamkhanli, Vahid Aziz, and Ramiz Rovshan, as well as a theatrical composition titled “The Laughter of the Word – Shusha Stories,” are included in the program.
The final day of the Vagif Poetry Days will be marked by a series of events dedicated to prominent representatives of Azerbaijani and pan-Turkic literary heritage. A scientific conference titled “The Khagani of the Word – I am Khagani, Khagani,” dedicated to the 900th anniversary of Khagani Shirvani, will be held, and an artistic-musical composition titled “The Longing of the Word – Greetings to Heydarbaba,” dedicated to the 120th anniversary of Mohammad-Hossein Shahriyar, will be presented.
The Poetry Days will conclude with a magnificent concert program titled “The Triumph of the Word – The Echo of Victory.”
It should be recalled that the foundation of the Vagif Poetry Days was laid in Shusha in 1982 on the initiative of National Leader Heydar Aliyev. Organized annually until 1991, this poetry festival traditionally began in the poet’s homeland, Gazakh, and ended in Shusha’s enchanting Jidir Plain. As a result of the victory won in the 44-day Patriotic War, the Vagif Poetry Days have been restored.