Naum Faiq Short Story and Poetry Competition 2023

In memory of Syriac teacher, writer, thinker, and poet Naum Faiq Palakh, the Institut Mésopotamie de Bruxelles is organizing its first Naum Faiq Short Story and Poetry Competition. The Naum Faiq Short Story and Poetry Competition is created to encourage and appreciate artistic expression on Syriac culture, language, history, tradition, and nationhood through various literary forms. It calls on contenders to put on paper in a narrative or poetic form their thoughts, ideas, and ideals on any of the above-mentioned aspects of Syriac nationhood and, in line with Naum Faiq’s thinking, the promotion of unity in diversity.

Naum Faiq (1868–1930) was born in Omid and lived in times of social and political unrest in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. He spoke and wrote in Syriac, Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, Persian, and later English. As an editor and publisher, he expressed his pioneering patriotic ideas on Syriac culture, education, language, history, tradition, and nationhood in many writings, books, periodicals, and magazines such as Bethnahrin (Mesopotamia), Kawkab Madenho (Star of the East), and Huyodo (Unity). Throughout his whole life, malphono Naum Faiq wrote and published inexhaustible to raise awareness, and bridge and bring down the denominational and religious divisions among the Syriacs, Arameans, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Rūm, Mandeans, and Maronites, who are organized into different churches. Since he considered them all part of the Syriac Tradition , he called for national unity in diversity instead of denominational sectarianism.

The 3-member jury consists of Syriac teachers, historians, and writers. The winners will be announced in a special ceremony on Naum Faiq Memorial Day, in February 2023.

Short stories and poems must be submitted in the Syriac language, either in Syriac or Latin script and in any of the Syruiac dialects.

The minimum total word count is 1,500 and should be no more than 5,000 words.

Submit your short story or poem on any of the aspects of Syriac nationhood latest January 15, 2023.

For more information and your submissions: info@institutmesopotamie.com