Benghazi – The National Library hosted a poetry evening as part of the Benghazi International Book Fair, titled “An Evening of Spoken Poetry,” featuring a selection of the most prominent Libyan poetic voices.
The evening included poets Essam Al-Sabri, Faris Bartou, and Sufian Butaghyan, while the session was moderated by journalist Afaf Abdel Mohsen, who introduced the poets with an elegant presentation that combined the depth of the word with the charm of recitation.
The poems varied between emotional, social, and patriotic themes, touching the audience’s feelings and recalling the brilliance of authentic Libyan spoken poetry, which combines simplicity and depth and embodies the pulse of daily life for the Libyan people.
In a statement to the Libyan News Agency, poet Faris Bartou expressed his happiness to participate, saying: “Benghazi is the great heart that embraces creativity. I may not have been born in it, but my creativity was born in it. I am happy to be among these beautiful hearts that always bring us together in love and good words, and I thank the organizers of the fair and the evening for this distinguished effort.”
For his part, poet Sufian Butaghyan said of his return to the cultural scene after a four-year absence: “I am happy with this return through the evening of spoken poetry, and to be among my fellow creative poets. I thank the organizing committee and the esteemed audience for this gathering, which brought back my nostalgia for Benghazi and for the warmth of poetry that runs in the blood, its pulse never stopping.”
The evening was described as a space for nostalgia, memory, and a return to authenticity, where folk poetry blended with the spirit of art and music, reaffirming that Benghazi remains a beacon of creativity and a home for words that unite, not divide, and express the nation’s soul in its most beautiful forms.