Qatar University’s (QU) Literature Club hosted for the second consecutive year Doha’s ‘100 Thousand Poets for Change’ event aimed to make positive changes in the community through poetry and art.
Organised in collaboration with Qatar’s poetry organisation, Words and Strings, the event aligns with the club’s mission to promote an intellectual environment that stimulates creativity. It was attended by faculty members, staff, students and alumni from QU and institutions across Qatar.
The programme agenda featured discussions focused on this year’s topic, ‘Borders and Refugees’ and participants elaborated on their experiences within and outside their countries’ borders.
It also included live stage performances presented by published poets, musicians, public speakers and students.
College of Arts and Sciences assistant professor and Department of English Literature and Linguistics (DELL) programme co-ordinator Dr Tristan Major said it was excellent to see students engaging with the wider poetic community in Qatar.
“The particularly good quality of the performances and the high attendance of the event show that poetry still remains an active way for us to engage with important issues in our own personal lives and in the world.”
Words and Strings representative Amin Isaac lauded the commendable effort by the QU Literature Club team to bring the best poets in Doha.
QU alumna and Literature Club’s former president Hala Mousa said she was pleasantly surprised to see the diversity of the approaches taken to tackle the issues of borders and refugees.
“The audience feedback was very positive,” she stated.
Literature Club president student Mashael AlMahmoud said there were many interesting and touching performances, in Arabic and English, with different backgrounds and voices offering many dimensions to the chosen issue. QU Literature Club was founded in Fall 2016 by students of the DELL. Each year, the club hosts a wide range of events and activities, including informal group discussions on literature.