We begin the week here on My Poetic Side with a look at the new name for the Alicante Airport, the winners of this years Kweyol Poetry Competition and the poet who has been booked for inciting violence.

Airport Gets New Name

A decision has been made regarding the Alicante-Elche Airport. On Friday, it was confirmed by the Minister of Public Works that name of the airport is to be changed to honour the Orihuela poet, Miguel Hernandez. The El Altet terminal will soon become the Alicante-Elche Miguel Hernandez terminal.

The name change was approved during the 110th-anniversary celebrations of the poet’s birth at a series of celebrations that took place in el Palacio del Temple de Valencia. The president of the Generalitat read a poem and then made the announcement.

A video was shared shortly after by the Minister of Public Works to his Twitter account, in which he stated that Alicante owed a great tribute to the poet and this was the reason that the decision had been made. He reminded everyone that Hernandez was a poet with an international reputation and that no country who was worth its salt should condemn such an essential player in its culture to death without being damaged morally.

There are already schools, streets and even a university named after the poet. However, it is felt that the airport shows a more international acknowledgement of Hernandez and what he achieved.

Winners of the 2020 Kweyol Poetry Writing Competition

The winners for this year’s Kweyol Poetry writing companion have been announced. The top three poets will receive EC$1000, EC$800 and EC$ 500, respectively. They will also be given a plaque with their winning poem inscribed on it, as well as a certificate of participation and their own copy of the Kweyol dictionary.

The competition, which is an annual one, that takes place in St Lucia is part of the island’s observation of International language day, which falls on 21^st February and World Poetry Day which falls on 21^st March. This year, the competition was run to coincide with the 41^st anniversary of independence for the country. This year, the theme was particularly special and offered entrants the opportunity to reflect on the independence of the island and also to see how far they felt that St Lucia had come as a country since independence. It also asked them to think about what course they might see St Lucia taking in the future.

Poet Booked for Remarks on French Killings

The renowned poet Munawwar Rana has been booked for the comments he has made over the recent killings in France. He claimed that the caricatures had been made deliberately in order to defame Islam and the Prophet Muhammad. He went on to say that because of such acts people were forced to take extreme steps – as had happened in France –  and that he would have done exactly the same thing.

A case has been registered against the poet who is accused of disrupting communal peace and social harmony.

Rana has been quoted in the media as saying that he would be fighting against the accusations.