Saudi Arabia’s largest book fair to open soon

Cairo: Saudi Arabia’s largest book fair will kick off later this month in Riyadh, featuring more than 200 cultural events.

The Riyadh International Book Fair, an annual event, will be held at the King Saud University on September 28 and runs until October 7 under the slogan “An Inspiring Destination”.

Stretching on an area of over 46,000 square metres, the fair emerges as the Arab world’s biggest in terms of cultural diversity and activities tailored to cater to different age groups, the Saudi news agency SPA reported.

Organised by the government Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, the fair will attract a large number of publishing houses and cultural organisations presenting the latest titles, rare manuscripts and artwork to around 1 million visitors.

Over 10 days, visitors will have access to a rich cultural itinerary featuring symposiums, poetry recitals, workshops, activities for children, stage shows, concerts and the “Book Talk”, an event hosting a select of influential thinkers and authors.

And for the first time, the fair will organise this year a contest for children in poetical recitation aimed to enhance their linguistic, poetical and personal skills.

In tandem with the fair, the commission will organise on October 4 an international conference for publishers featuring key local and foreign speakers to discuss different aspects of the publishing industry.

Last year’s edition of the fair drew the participation of 1,200 publishing houses from 32 countries.

In October 2021, the fair resumed, a year after it was postponed due to the global COVID-19 pandemic