Under the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Riyadh International Book Fair will launch on October 1, 2021, at Riyadh Front, with the participation of important publishing houses from around the globe. The new session of Riyadh International Book Fair, being supervised by the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, will witness a significant expansion of activities and events, representing 16 cultural sectors. This year, the Republic of Iraq will be the Guest of Honor at Riyadh International Book Fair. The commission has provided facilitations to local and foreign participating publishing houses, such as offering 50% discount on space rent at the fair, affording shipping costs and establishing an e-store and e-selling points for all publishers. Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan, Minister of Culture and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, stated that books, publishing, language, translation and literature sectors receive great support from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. He considered the fair an important cultural event in the book and publishing industry, since it is a gate to highlight the Saudi creative production and stimulate cultural participation and trade cooperation, so that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can become a global gateway for the publishing sector. The commission will organize a conference for publishers on October 4-5, on the sidelines of the fair that will run until October 10. It will be the first conference of its kind in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It also will be the starting point for developing the publishing sector at local and international levels. The Riyadh International Book Fair will include cultural and literary symposiums, poetry and art readings, discussion panels, interactive activities, and diversified workshops in the fields of art, reading, writing, publishing, book making, and translation. The commission in this session of the fair seeks to highlight its interest in supporting modern publishing channels; such as audio and digital books. This is in addition to its attention paid to the technical aspects, within the framework of the improvements it made to the fair's vision in order to keep pace with the requirements of the National Strategy for Culture and to realize the Ministry of Culture's goals aimed at making culture a style of life and raising the level of its contribution to national economic growth, thus strengthening the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's position in the world.
