Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Saudis jostle to pick up banned books at fair
The huge crowd that thronged the Riyadh International Book Fair's last day was a telling example of Saudis' avid interest in reading - and that includes banned books.
- By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent
- Published: 00:01 March 16, 2008
Riyadh: The huge crowd that thronged the Riyadh International Book Fair's last day was a telling example of Saudis' avid interest in reading - and that includes banned books.
Many book sellers exploited readers' desire to own literary works of their favourite authors, some of which are banned in the Kingdom.
The last hours of the fair, which concluded on Friday, witnessed hectic activities as these shop owners were busy selling such books, after hiding them from public notice.
Many readers were able to buy copies of banned books that were neither displayed nor sold in public, avoiding the monitoring eyes of religious police.
"Despite the lukewarm response for the event in the beginning, the fair attained immense interest from readers through the concluding days. Revenues from the fair also posted a great increase," said organisers of the event.
Some organisers and participants told Gulf News that more than 32,000 men and women of all ages visited the fair in the last two days.
An average 10,000 people visited the fair during the first days. However, this number registered a gradual increase during the last days.
New trend
Price rises did not affect the purchasing power of Saudi readers, thanks to the growing interest in reading and the economic boom being witnessed in the Kingdom.
The average purchases of the visitors ranged between 150 Saudi riyals and 280 riyals (Dh150-280). Sales in the first five days of the fair amounted to cost over 15 million riyals (Dh15 million). This was a large increase over last year's fair, "compared with the total collection made in last year's fair, [which] amounted to only 12 million riyals (Dh12 million)," the book sellers said.
The fair witnessed a growing trend on the part of readers to own a signed copy of a favourite book.
More than half a dozen authors were available at the stalls to put in their signature on demand from the customers.
Author Mohammad Al Qashami said it was a great surprise for him when many readers approached him with a request to autograph his book Al Fikr Wal Raqeeb. "This is a new trend among Saudi readers, which is encouraging," he said.
Security: Some nuisances
The Riyadh International Book Fair was marred by only a few cases of nuisances for women visitors from "young infiltrators".
Some of these "infiltrators" sneaked into the venue, mixing with families.
According to Muammar Al Jarbua, head of security in charge of the fair, most of such cases reported were from youths who accompanied families.
There was one incident which created scenes, when it emerged that women were allowed to visit the fair without covering their faces.
One man, acting as a member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (religious police), shouted at some women and asked them to wear their veil and cover their faces.
However, Commission officials asserted that he is not a religious policeman and has nothing to do with the commission's activities.
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