RIYADH, 1 October 2004 — The organizing committee of the Tenth Riyadh International Book Fair has canceled the copyright protection seminar scheduled among the cultural programs of the fair being held at King Saud University.
There was no apparent reason for the cancellation. “It was canceled due to the apology of the participants for not attending the seminar,” the committee announced.
The Riyadh fair has been criticized for the lack of cultural activities that go alongside such festivals. “The canceled seminar was only one of five cultural programs of the ten-day-long fair,” said Fahad Al-Mutairy, a frequent customer at the exhibition.
Ahmad Al-Saleh, a Saudi poet, and Abdulrahman Rafee, a Bahraini poet, were the only literary figures to participate in a poetry evening during the fair. “There were no reading workshops, book signing by authors, short story evenings, book reviews, specialized readings for children,” said an Arabic teacher accompanying his students who came over in a field trip to the exhibition
Yesterday was the second day allotted for women. “Two days are not enough,” said Fatema Al-Onazy, a presenter in Riyadh Radio, adding that special programs are badly needed to encourage children to read.
Khadeeja Al-Harbi, a lecturer and a short story writer, said that the book fair should have been open to all members of the family without specifying days for women and days for men. Jeddah Book Fair was open to both men and women last year.
Nawal Al-Saeed, a KSU postgraduate student, has called on the organizers to attract foreign publishers as the fair completely lacks books in other languages.
Saudi literary works are still sold by publishers outside their country. For example, books authored by Abullah Al-Gathami, the well-known literary critic, are sold by Lebanese, Morrocan and Bahraini publishers. “We bring a limited number of copies of Saudi literary works as we are afraid that they may be confiscated by censors of the fair,” said a representative of the Arab House for Research and Publishing, a reputed Lebanese publishing house participating in the fair.
Censorship is a main issue in Saudi book fair. “There is always a criterion I apply to examine the level of censorship in any Saudi book fair. I always ask about the availability of controversial authors like Nizar Qabbani or Turky Al-Hamad. The two names are absent,” said Mishaal Al-Mutairy, a Saudi student visiting the fair. Governmental institutions are frequent participants in all book fairs, even in foreign lands, but their books are not for sale. “They are only for display” is the motto uttered by all the employees attending to and “guarding their decorated stalls”, as was put by one of the visitors.
King Saud University has created a website with researchable database in Arabic and English of the books displayed at the fair. “This is very helpful for postgraduate students who look for books to help them with research projects at the beginning of the new academic year.”
