The Board of Trustees of the Emirates Literature Foundation was delighted to attend the signing ceremony for an agreement signalling a new chapter of the Foundation’s partnership with Emirates NBD. The long-standing partnership enters a new phase with the signing of a multi-year agreement making Emirates NBD the Official Banking Partner. The bank has been the sponsor of the highly regarded poetry performance competition, Emirates NBD Poetry For All for several years. The agreement signed this week signals the bank’s commitment to investing in homegrown creative talent and nurturing the culture of sharing stories as well as ensuring accessibility to cultural opportunities for people of determination.

As Official Banking Partner, Emirates NBD becomes the Festival’s exclusive banking provider. The bank commits to supporting the Foundation in the delivery of its mission of changing lives through spreading the love of books and stories.

HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, said: “All of us on the board are proud to have witnessed the yearly growth of the Festival, and the positive impact that the Foundation and the Festival are having on everyone in our community, across all ages and  nationalities.”

Isobel Abulhoul OBE, CEO and founder of Emirates Literature Foundation, said: “We are deeply grateful to our friends at Emirates NBD for their continuous support. They have partnered with us for many years for our wonderful poetry performance competition, and it was felt on both sides that we could do more together to invest in our community. It is wonderful to see two homegrown organisations joining forces to make our world a little bit better. We look forward to taking this partnership to the next level and together provide a legacy for children to grow up with a love of the written and spoken word.”

Commenting on the partnership, Hesham Abdulla Al Qassim, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Emirates NBD, said: “Emirates NBD is proud to support the Emirates Literature Foundation as Official Banking Partner, marking a new chapter in our longstanding relationship with the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature. The bank has been an active supporter of the festival over the years, sponsoring the Emirates NBD Poetry for All competition that has provided a valuable and rewarding platform for aspiring young poets across the GCC. We remain committed to supporting the foundation in its goals of developing an appreciation for literature among the region’s youth.”

The Emirates NBD Poetry For All competition offers students with a talent for poetry performance a chance to shine, performing favourite poems. It is open to full-time students in the GCC (UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait) and it is held in Arabic and English. The final of the competition will be held at the annual Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, 4-9 February 2020.

The Emirates NBD Poetry For All competition last year saw more than 400 performers compete across the two age group categories of the competition, 8-13 and 14-18.

Performers compete in several preliminary rounds, with the grand finals held during the Festival. Registration for the competition is open online till 6^th October 2019 at emirateslitfest.com/competitions/young-peoples-competitions/poetry-for-all-competition

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