Saudi Arabia has continued to provide facilitation and issue exemptions for publishing houses taking part in the Riyadh International Book Fair, which ends on Sunday.
Saudi Minister of Culture and Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission Chairman Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan ordered the Commission to exempt the publishing houses taking part in the fair this year from paying their booths’ rent costs.
The move is an effort to support literature, publishing and translation and to reduce the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic on the publishing industry.
The exemption is part of a series of unprecedented facilitations provided by the Commission, with rent costs for space reduced by 50 percent, shipping being paid for and the development of an online bookstore to allow those who couldn’t attend to purchase books.
The Riyadh International Book Fair, which is among the largest cultural events ever seen in Saudi Arabia, ends on Sunday with Riyadh crowned as a cultural destination for the Kingdom and the Gulf.
The ten-day fair was remarkable for the massive number of Saudi visitors it attracted, its cultural events - the largest among the book fairs held in the Kingdom - and the participation of 100 intellectuals and critics from various countries in cultural meetings that boasted 36 seminars and lectures.
Sixty workshops were held during the fair. They were given by more than 100 experts and specialists in an array of fields, covering workshops on writing and composition, filmmaking, theater, culinary arts and others.
Also for the first time, cultural events were blended with arts and music, as Princess Nourah bint Abdul Rahman University’s theater group performed four concerts.
