By Hassan Cheruppa
JEDDAH – As many as 450 publishing houses from 27 countries have so far registered to participate in the second edition of the Jeddah International Book Fair, which will be held from Dec. 15 to 25 (Rabi Al-Awwal 16-26).
More than a million titles will be displayed at the pavilions, which will be set up on an 21,500 sq. meters area at the exhibition grounds of the Events Land in south Obhur.
The fair is held under the aegis of Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, emir of Makkah and adviser to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
Several working teams have swung into action to make the fair a resounding success. This was in line with the directives and close supervision of Prince Mishal Bin Majed, governor of Jeddah and chairman of the supreme committee of the fair.
The committee started preparations for the forthcoming event well in advance. The fair is expected to give an exciting experience for avid readers and book lovers in the city and neighboring regions by giving them an opportunity to meet hundreds of publishers and authors from across the world and grab their favorite books.
Publishers from Pakistan, Malaysia, Germany and Oman are taking part in the fair for the first time this year.
The organizers expect the 11-day event will see sales of over SR100 million. They said the fair will be instrumental in enhancing the literary and cultural awareness of the public and promoting the reading habit, especially among the younger generation.
A wide variety of cultural and literary programs, including seminars, lectures, workshops, poetic evenings, story-telling sessions and interaction with authors will be held on the sidelines of the fair. Several prominent writers, authors, poets and intellectuals from within the Kingdom and abroad are expected to take part.
The first edition of the fair, held in December 2015, was an unprecedented success. More than 800,000 people, who represented all segments of the Saudi society and expatriate community, visited the fair. The book fair was a real bonanza for the Arab readers and book lovers as the overwhelming majority of books displayed at the fair were in Arabic language.
