Two branches of one art
Saudi literature recognises two kinds of poetry: classical and Nabati. Nabati poetry draws on local dialects and has long been popular in the wider community, and together the two forms outweigh the novel and prose in the public's affection.
In the era of the First Saudi State, poets worked in both forms, and several excelled in each. Colloquial poetry developed new metres compared with classical verse, and some poets blended the two.
Poets, memory and prizes
Names from that era include Mohsen al-Hazani (1732–1824), Mohammed bin Hamad bin Laboun (1790–1831), credited with new artistic innovations in Nabati poetry, and Muhammad al-Abdullah al-Qadi (1809–1868). Poems were recited in gatherings, passed on by word of mouth and later written down, and historians read them as a record: Abdullah al-Othaimin published a study of Nabati poetry as a source for the history of Najd in 1977.
Today the King Abdulaziz Award for Folk Literature, established in 2017 and held within the King Abdulaziz Camel Festival, has three categories in the local dialect: shailat, Nabati poetry and poetic debate. First place in each category carries SAR 5 million.