Riyadh Book Fair begins with a new twist

The increase in the number of publishing houses, having extra spaces, providing postal services, having several booths to educate people about foreign countries, as well as, having booths focusing on social initiatives and activities, are some of the features that have made Riyadh Book Fair 2016 unique.

Many publishing houses stated that the Riyadh Book Fair is one of the strongest book fairs in the Middle East. They are enthusiastic of this year’s exhibition that would provide them major exposure and are expecting a high sales rate and a large number of attendees.

Mamdouh Baheej, marketing manager in one of the Saudi publishing houses, said, “Riyadh Book Fair through the years has emerged as one of the best book fair in the Arab world. The exhibition has expanded this year.”

Japan Foundation, one of the busiest booths at the book fair, is using the occasion to promote the Japanese language. — SG photo

Saleh Alghubeen, an employee in another Saudi publishing house, explained that as always Riyadh book fair is impressive and he is expecting a massive number of visitors to attend.

Several photography corners are available to educate people about certain topics about the Kingdom, including the History of Riyadh under the name of “Riyadh Memory” and another section focusing on “Asefat Alhazm”, the war in Yemen.

Ahmed Bahsoon, owner of a Lebanese publishing house, said, “Every year this exhibition is developing itself. This year the number of publishing houses are more and many books published in several publishing houses are being exhibited here and that will give added value to the exhibition.”

He said not only is there a good number of buyers, but also the choices of book on offer are very good. The readers are picky and are choosing books of value that have beneficial information and that the buyer really needs. He believes the choice of books on display reflects the generational preferences with the new generation buying more since they are collecting books on every topic, while the older generation browsing the whole area for their picks  — that is mostly their own cultural topics or historical and contemporary styles.

“The exhibition is developing each year when it comes to its organization, new books, use of newer and increasing technologies and tools that help in searching for books. However, not all the books are available every year, particularly books about modern criticism,” Roa, one of the visitors, said.

She explained that her master’s is about this topic and she came to find books that would help her in her studies. “Yet after scouring the whole fair, I found and bought only one book related to my course,” she said. A booth under the name Japan Foundation is focusing on showcasing several Japanese books including books that help learn the Japanese language. People can have a copy with their names written in Japanese for free.
There is also a Greek booth where visitors can educate themselves about the country and where historical tomes are in abundance.

Visitors can buy old newspapers for around SR50 from a small booth in the exhibition. These newspapers are more than 15 years old.

“Our Souls with You”, is one of the social initiatives that is taking place in the exhibition. People can write small thankful messages in certain website for the soldiers and the martyred soldiers. After reaching 1 million messages, all of them will be collected and published in a book.

The Capital Market Authority is responsible for one of the kids’ booths where they educate children about money and investment by distributing a book titled “Smart Investors”, and are holding several games and activities throughout the book fair’s period. There is also another competition for kids, which will start from March 14 until March 20 for taking the best selfie.

The Saudi Post is providing a special service for the book buyers in the exhibition. It gives them the opportunity to send parcels to all parts of the Kingdom at competitive prices. The person can pay around SR30 for a 15-kilogram parcel and SR50 for parcels weighing 15 to 30 kilograms with free packaging and processing.

The book fair, which is being held under the theme “The Book is Memory That Does Not Get Old”, will continue until March 19.