Arab poetry festival to be held in Rabat

An Arab poetry festival will be held May 29-31 in the Moroccan capital city of Rabat, part of events scheduled for "Rabat Arab Cultural Capital for 2003."

The festival will present a collective exhibition of paintings of several artists, and collections of poems by Arab poets.

Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, Iraqi Saadi Youssef and Lebanese Abbas Baydoun are present in this landmark cultural venue.

A symposium on "pluralism in contemporary Arab poetry" is scheduled in the festival that will pay homage to Moroccan romantic poets and contemporary Arab Poets.

The year-long activities of the festival of Rabat, capital of Arab culture started in March, showcasing the Moroccan cultural diversity and richness and portray a positive image of Morocco.