A project to translate Saudi books will begin next year. The project will translate works by Saudi writers in an effort to make Saudi culture available to the world, according to the official statement. The languages translated into include English, French, German, Russian and Braille. The committee in charge of the project, which has three women members, is eager to begin.
A week after the Jeddah Book Fair closed, this project seems no more than wishful thinking to me. To have a book fair anywhere is always an excellent idea. What sort of books are in the fair is something else and has nothing to do with the original idea. As with so many other things here, the book fair is fine in theory and planning but when it actually happens, things have somehow, for totally unexplained reasons, gone off in other directions. Following the fair in the papers, here are some impressions that came to mind. The number of people who went to the fair was a good sign; maybe people are finally thinking of reading as part of their lives. There are those who went to the fair in search of academic books. During, and after, the fair complaints were heard of the lack of variety among the titles exhibited. More than 50 percent of the books dealt with religion or Arabic literature. Some people, who were looking for books in order to do research, said that they were disappointed. One researcher quoted in an Arabic daily, said, “It seems that I’ll have to travel abroad to get the books I need. I expected to find some useful books here at the fair. The question I want to ask is: Why do we have a book fair if the titles we need are not included?”
Another man, searching for poetry and unable to find it, asked the salesman where a certain book was. The answer? “The writer is banned here.” The man asked about others and was out of luck with all of them. As he said, “Obviously, I’ll have to read them on the Internet”. Visitors and booksellers said that the censors came to the fair on the first day and confiscated cartons full of books. One of the publishers participating in the Jeddah fair complained that the confiscated books were at the Riyadh book fair. “This is strange. If I can sell the books in Riyadh, why am I banned from selling them in Jeddah? Particularly since some of the books are in demand by Saudi readers.” The publisher went on, “The censors do not have clear rules about what to ban. Their rules change from one place to the other and from one year to the next.” The important point here is that some of the banned books were written by Saudi writers; to ban them in their own country and then translate the works for foreign readers makes absolutely no sense. We ban them here and then translate them so that non-Saudis can understand our country? A Jordanian publisher said he only sold academic books which naturally gives him no trouble with the censors. The censors often do not realize that the book they have banned have been available for years. In a news item yesterday, the Education Ministry has decided to ban a book that has been on the list of recommended reading. The book is still available in school libraries and bookstores and has been for more than 10 years. There was no reason given for banning the book which was written by a senior Egyptian Islamic scholar at Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
To go back to the book fair, we were told that the censors took away a number of titles from various stands without giving any reasons. Some of the books they took away are sold openly in Saudi bookstores.
Does the right hand know what the left is doing? Banned books include novels, poetry and research. Some of the banned writers are even regular columnists on some of the Kingdom’s newspapers.
Many people were dismayed and disappointed that activities planned to take place along with the fair were cancelled - no poetry readings, evenings or discussions. One writer said, “Those in charge of the fair have no taste for intellect. They are mainly interested in organizing an event rather than in the content. Book fairs are opportunities for intellectuals and writers from various countries to meet and interact, but this idea seems to escape many people here.” Another writer said that the books at the fair were more expensive than in local bookstores.
On another note, the book fair was given very little publicity; some people complained that they did not know about it or about its location or opening times. Not that the number of people interested in reading here is large but for what it is worth, should not we encourage those who are and make extra efforts to spread a good habit?
In the whole world there is a great need to spread reading among people. If European and American countries have this problem, then we should not be surprised that so relatively few people are interested in reading. In Lebanon, a recent study showed that only 14% of the people like to read. If this happens in a country considered a center of Arab culture, then we should not be shocked if people in Saudi Arabia are not interested in books. The problem we have gets worse by discouraging the remaining few who are interested in reading.
In an article published last week, the librarian at one of Jeddah’s universities said that the number of students interested in borrowing books for research and leisure had increased this year. He said that this was a sign that students were beginning to like the idea of reading.
Certainly having book fairs could help to spread the habit, especially if the fairs had the books that people wanted to read. There is a long way to travel until we read and recognize our own needs and are able to fulfill them.
