Thereafter, The Poetic Heart has been held annually as a celebration of love for poetry rooted in local tradition. It is a multi-lingual event with poems in as many as 15 global languages, based on themes of peace, friendship, tolerance and human dignity. Over the years, The Poetic Heart has brought together 73 international poets, 21 notable musicians and 159 school students, including students with determination from 4 institutions – all with the collective goal of spreading the essence of poetry across society.
Some of the notable local poets who have been part of the previous editions of The Poetic Heart include Dr. Shihab Ghanem, Dr. Daisaku Ikeda, Paolo Ruffilli, Dr. K Satchidanandan, Prof. Francesca Corrao, Wael Al-Sayegh, Silvan Salmanpour, George Yamazawa, Claudio Pozzani, Dr. Padmaja Sharma and Zeina Hashim Beck. Intertwining poetry with music has been one of the highlights of this event which has hosted musicians such as Kamal Mussallam, Sami Yusuf, Nestor Torres, Jason Carter, Ebin George, Esther Eden, Siya Arora, Bisveena Sagheer, Suchetha Satish, Dev Chakraborty and SGI’s chorus group Naseem.

Progress Through the Years