Riyadh, September 23 (BNA): The Literature, Publishing and Translation Authority announced today a rich and diverse cultural program that will mark the Riyadh International Book Fair.
The much-anticipated exhibition will open in the Saudi capital on October 1 and will run for 10 days amid high expectations, as it will foster a greater passion for reading in the community and provide new opportunities to enhance awareness and knowledge about diverse cultures, literature and arts.
The cultural program includes a group of Saudi, Arab and international writers, thinkers and critics who will participate in more than 120 events, including seminars, lectures and workshops covering various fields of cultural creativity.
From 4 to 5 October, the exhibition will host the first publishers conference of its kind in the Kingdom, which is organized by the authority to discuss the reality of the publishing industry in the Arab world and ways to develop it to reach international competitive standards.
During the conference’s 12 panel discussions, 42 speakers from Saudi Arabia and abroad will discuss multiple layers of the local and regional publishing industry and ways to address their shortcomings and suggest ways to improve them to enhance their contribution to Arab cultural development.
The cultural program will include three main tracks. In the first episode entitled “Book Talk”, nine Saudi, Arab and international authors will talk about their writing experiences.
They are Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Sheikha Hind Al-Qasimi, the Saudi traveler and writer Abdullah Al-Juma, the Kuwaiti novelist Mishaal Hamad, the Jordanian novelist Ayman Al-Atoum, the American writer Jordan Balfour, the Kuwaiti novelist Saud Al-Sanousi, the American chef and author Marco Pierre White, and Chris Gardner, the American author of the famous book “The Pursuit of Happiness”.
In the second track “Cultural Encounters”, more than 100 intellectuals and critics from different countries, over the ten days of the exhibition, shed light on urgent literary and cultural issues through 36 seminars and lectures.
As for the third track, it will honor and honor prominent figures who served Arab culture, led by Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, advisor to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, the Emir of the Makkah region.
Prince Khaled will be honored by the Paris-based Institut du Monde Arabe in a grand ceremony hosted by the exhibition in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Arab culture.
The exhibition will also witness seminars celebrating Iraqi culture, with the participation of the most prominent Saudi and Iraqi writers and writers.
The Iraqi Minister of Culture, Dr. Hassan Nazim, will talk about “culture and state-building”, while Muhammad Rida Nasrallah, Dr. Abdullah Al-Haidari, Dr. Nadia Al-Azzawi and Sahib Abu Jinnah will highlight the work of Dr. Ali Jawad Al-Ali in a symposium. immaculate.
Dr. speaks. Abdullah Al-Ghadami on “The Fate of Philosophy”, while Dr. Saad Al-Bazai talks about “The Milestones of Modernity”.
The evenings of poetry will enrich the Saudi and Iraqi poets, including Jassim Al-Sahih, Haider Al-Abdullah, Sultan Al-Dayt and others.
The exhibition will organize more than 60 workshops with diverse cultural orientations presented by more than 100 experts and specialists.
It includes workshops on writing and composition, filmmaking, theater, culinary arts, children’s arts, traditional clothing in the Kingdom, writing science fiction, ways to motivate children to read, the stages of creating a literary agency, and the role and privileges of literature. The agent, architectural writing, what philosophy can learn from children, and techniques for writing comics and manga. Celebrity chefs will share their skills in culinary arts workshops.
The cultural program will also celebrate the creative arts on Culture Street, which will host various cultural events in 16 locations along the Riyadh Front.
The exhibition will present on the stage of Princess Nourah bint Abdul Rahman University four evenings of singing and music of high artistic value.
Abdel Rahman Mohammed will launch the concert, followed by a musical evening presented by Egyptian musician Omar Khairat, and an Iraqi show by musician Naseer Shamma and well-known singer Saadoun Jaber.
The fourth evening will include famous songs written by the late poet Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal for Arab stars Umm Kulthum, Abdel Halim Hafez and others.
Princess Nourah University Theater also hosts the musical “The World of Hans Zimmer”. Children’s plays “Treasure Island” and “Disney Princesses” will be shown on the stage of the King Fahd Cultural Center.
The new edition of the Riyadh International Book Fair will be held under the slogan “A New Destination, a New Chapter”, with Iraq as the guest of honor, and a unique rich program in which Iraqi intellectuals and artists will present seminars and cultural performances.
The 2021 exhibition is the first to be organized by the Committee for Literature, Publishing and Translation under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture. It will be the largest in its history, with the participation of more than 1,000 local, Arab and international publishing houses from 28 countries.