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ROSHN and KFCRIS Launch Saudi Women’s Book, Glossary

ROSHN and KFCRIS Launch Saudi Women’s Book, Glossary
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ROSHN and KFCRIS Launch Saudi Women’s Book, Glossary

ROSHN and KFCRIS Launch Saudi Women’s Book, Glossary

ROSHN Group, the PIF-owned giga-project and Saudi Arabia’s most trusted real estate developer has signed an agreement with King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS) to further express appreciation for and preserve Saudi women’s unique identity by releasing the first Saudi Women’s Book and Glossary, as part of the Saudi Women Project.

Attending the signing ceremony at KFCRIS were Princess Haifa AlFaisal, member of the Board of Trustees of the King Faisal Foundation, KFCRIS Secretary General, Princess Maha AlFaisal, ROSHN Group Chief Marketing and Communication Officer Ghada Alrumayan, KFCRIS Assistant Secretary-General Ibrahim Aldeghaither, and Director of the Saudi Women’s Project and scientific supervisor of the book and glossary that is be being developed by the center Dr. Dalal AlHarbi

Saudi Women’s Book and Glossary is a comprehensive study of the role of Saudi women in the formation of the Kingdom’s national identity and the preservation of its customs and traditions, said a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency on Saturday.

The book is backed by extensive research into the national and regional customs that women have passed on for generations, from rituals around births and weddings to caring for family and interacting with society. It carefully documents Saudi women’s contributions to education, attire, and occupations.

The book is supplemented by a glossary of the vocabulary related to women in Saudi heritage in all the regions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi Women Project is a pioneering cultural research undertaking, which seeks to present all aspects of Saudi women’s lived reality from the Kingdom’s unification in 1932.

The Saudi Women’s Book and Glossary presents the women’s role in the social, economic, and cultural developments in Saudi society, with focus on their customs and traditions. It is an unprecedented effort to preserve this unique Saudi story for generations to come.

“This project comes at a decisive moment in the history of Saudi women, with our contributions to the Kingdom’s advancement at a high tide, with Vision 2030 on the horizon. As we survey our accomplishments as a nation, it fills me with immense pride to see women excel across different sectors, as doctors and engineers, in the arts and sports, or raising the next generation of Saudi pioneers,” said ROSHN Group's Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Ghada AlRumayan.

“At ROSHN, we continue to demonstrate our commitment to empowering women with the skills and support to thrive in our dynamic, growing economy,” she added.

KFCRIS was established by the King Faisal Foundation in 1983 to maintain the late King’s mission of exchanging knowledge between the Kingdom and the world. KFCRIS brings together local and international researchers and organizations to produce sociological research and engage in intercultural dialogue.

It also houses Al-Faisal Cultural House, its publishing arm, the King Faisal Centre Library, the Faisal Family Archives, and Al-Faisal Museum for Arab-Islamic Art, which houses valuable collections of Islamic art, rare manuscripts, and pieces related to the late King Faisal.

ROSHN’s partnership with KFCRIS is part of the group’s wider strategy to improve the quality of life across the Kingdom by leveraging its reach and resources to create tangible impacts.

This agreement, in particular, aligns with the group’s core values, opportunity and empowerment, and is one other initiative that helps empower Saudi women and uphold Saudi culture.

Such endeavors include ROSHN’s pioneering RETURN program, which enables women to re-enter the workforce through dedicated training programs, as well as the group’s partnership with Nusf, The Arab Institute for Women’s Empowerment, and participation in its recent Walk the Talk mentorship initiative which offers Saudi women a unique opportunity to network and learn from accomplished women professionals.

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Japanese Poet Shuntaro Tanikawa, Master of Modern Free Verse, Dies at 92

Shuntaro Tanikawa, a Japanese poet and translator, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo, on May 25, 2022. (AP)
Shuntaro Tanikawa, a Japanese poet and translator, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo, on May 25, 2022. (AP)
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Japanese Poet Shuntaro Tanikawa, Master of Modern Free Verse, Dies at 92

Shuntaro Tanikawa, a Japanese poet and translator, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo, on May 25, 2022. (AP)
Shuntaro Tanikawa, a Japanese poet and translator, speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Tokyo, on May 25, 2022. (AP)

Shuntaro Tanikawa, who pioneered modern Japanese poetry, poignant but conversational in its divergence from haiku and other traditions, has died. He was 92.

Tanikawa, who translated the "Peanuts" comic strip and penned the lyrics for the theme song of the animation series "Astro Boy," died Nov. 13, his son Kensaku Tanikawa said Tuesday. He said his father died at a Tokyo hospital due to old age.

Shuntaro Tanikawa stunned the literary world with his 1952 debut "Two Billion Light Years of Solitude," a bold look at the cosmic in daily life, sensual, vivid but simple in its use of everyday language. Written before Gabriel García Márquez’ "One Hundred Years of Solitude," it became a bestseller.

Tanikawa’s "Kotoba Asobi Uta," or "Word Play Songs," is a rhythmical experiment in juxtaposing words that sound similar, such as "kappa," a mythical animal and "rappa," a horn, that makes for a joyful singsong compilation, filled with alliterations and onomatopoeia.

"For me, the Japanese language is the ground. Like a plant, I place my roots, drink in the nutrients of the Japanese language, sprouting leaves, flowers and bearing fruit," he said in a 2022 interview with The Associated Press at his Tokyo home.

Tanikawa explored the poetic, not only in the repetitive music of the spoken word but also the magic hidden in little things.

One of his works is titled, "I wanted to talk to you in the kitchen in the middle of the night."

"In the past, there was something about it being a job, being commissioned. Now, I can write as I want," he said.

In every work Tanikawa tackled, including the script for Kon Ichikawa’s "Tokyo Olympiad," a documentary film of the 1964 Tokyo Games, the respectful love for the beauty of the Japanese language resonates.

He also translated Mother Goose, Maurice Sendak and Leo Lionni. Tanikawa has in turn been widely translated, including English, Chinese and various European languages.

Some of his works were made into picture books for children, and they are often featured in Japanese school textbooks. He also incorporated Japanese words derived from foreign origins into his poems like Coca-Cola.

In his prose poem with that title, in which a boy is opening a Coke can, he wrote: "If, for instance, he saw the infinite universe that started or ended at the tip of his can, he was totally unaware of it. One might be able to opine that he named every bit of the unknown about to swallow him with all the vocabulary he could muster, which included his future vocabulary that was yet dormant in his subconscious."

In his debut poem that catapulted him to stardom, he is more sparse:

"Because the universe goes on expanding, we are all uneasy. With the chill of two billion light-years of solitude, I suddenly sneezed," is the way the poem ends, as translated by William I. Elliott and Kazuo Kawamura.

When asked about it, Tanikawa acknowledged it felt as though someone else had written it, but noted he still thought it was a good poem.

"Tanikawa’s poetry reflects a metaphysical and quasi-religious attitude toward experience. In simple, spare language, he sketches profound ideas and emotional truths," according to the Poetry Foundation, a US literary organization.

Tanikawa was born in 1931, a son of philosopher Tetsuzo Tanikawa, and began writing poetry in his teens, circulating with the famous poets of that era, like Makoto Ooka and Shuji Terayama.

He said he used to think poems descended like an inspiration from the heavens. But, as he grew older, he felt the poems welling up from the ground.

In person, Tanikawa was friendly and unassuming, often reading in public with other poets. He never seemed to take himself too seriously but used to confess his one regret in life was never finishing his education, having dropped out amid stardom at a young age.

His relative isolation from the bleakly serious scholarly poetry scene of postwar Japan likely helped him take his free-verse approach that went on to innovate and define Japanese contemporary poetics.

Tanikawa said he wasn’t afraid of death, implying he perhaps meant to write a poem about that experience, too.

"I am more curious about where I will go when I die. It’s a different world, right? Of course, I don’t want pain. I don’t want to die after major surgery or anything. I just want to die, all of a sudden," he said.

He is survived by his son, musician Kensaku Tanikawa and daughter Shino and several grandchildren. Funeral services were held privately with family and friends. A farewell event in his honor is being planned, Kensaku Tanikawa said.

"As they did with all of you, Shuntaro’s poems stunned and moved me, making me chuckle or shed a tear. Wasn’t it all so fun?" he said. "His poems are with you forever."