Million’s Poet returns with 48 poets competing for Dh15 million prize

The show was created to revive the Arabic form of Nabati poetry and find the best practitioner of the genre from the Arab world.

Million’s Poet programme aims to find the best practitioner of the genre from the Arab world. Mona Al-Marzooqi / The National

Forty-eight poets from 14 countries will compete for a Dh15 million prize when Million's Poet returns for its seventh season on Tuesday.

The talent quest, broadcasted on Baynounah TV, will begin a run of live shows in Abu Dhabi’s Al Raha Theatre.

Held biennially — the programme alternates with the Prince of Poets, an equally popular series focusing on classical Arabic poetry — Million's Poet returns after the previous 2014 season saw Emirati Saif Al Mansouri collecting the cash prize in addition to the gold-fringed, crimson, poet's flag.

Created to revive the Arabic form of Nabati poetry, dating from the 4th century and recited in ancient Nabati, or colloquial Bedouin dialect — which includes the Mwal, Shalla and Qalta dialects which are over 1,000 years old — the Million's Poet programme aims to find the best practitioner of the genre from the Arab world.

To compete, Nabati poets between the ages of 18 and 45, were invited last year to apply by submitting a typed Nabati poem between 10 and 20 verses in length. Poems were judged according to rhyme, metre and composition relevant to the genre.

Out of the thousands of submissions received, the jury chose 100 poets to interview, before creating a shortlist of 48 who are set to battle it out in front of a judging panel and a live television audience.

One of the judges this season is Sultan Al Ameemi, a member of the jury and director of the Poetry Academy at Abu Dhabi’s Cultural Programmes and Heritage Festivals Committee.

“All the participants took written and oral tests to determine their skills and assess their talents when it comes to key aspects, including metre, rhyme, poetic language, creative structure, figurative language, composition, improvisation and recital,” says Al Ameemi.

“(The show) has managed to present “new talents and promote Nabati poetry as a rich form of popular literature.”

He noted an increased participation from a younger generation of poets for this season, most of whom are between age 19 and 23.

Al Ameeni goes on to state that some of the most impressive submissions came from four Arab capitals in particular: Amman, Kuwait, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

Issa Seif Al Mazrouei, managing director of Baynounah TV and member of the programme's organising committee, says Million's Poet has built a devoted following across the region.

"According to recent statistics, the number of internet references to the Million's Poet has reached about 28 million, in Arabic, English, and many other languages," he states.

“Over the years, the programme has managed to detect a record number of 336 talents from different nationalities, including Arab poets and diaspora poets. We have poets from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman, Yemen, Egypt, Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Palestine and Germany.”

Al Ameemi is excited for the start of the seventh season. “We expect an intense competition in the upcoming episodes,” he says.

"It appears that the poets and the audience have perfectly realised that the Million's Poet is not merely a TV competition and programme, but rather a message that serves culture and poetry in the first place."