“The book can be bought at the exhibition,” the official said. On behalf of the ministry, the official demanded that local newspapers avoid disseminating false reports.

“The most important goal of the ministry in organizing the book exhibition is to give Saudi intellectuals and visitors an opportunity to become familiar with the latest books in the various branches of knowledge, but without contradicting the principles of censorship stipulated by Kingdom’s media and publications policy,” he said.

Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Thursday that many intellectuals expressed concern about censorship, which prompted the Ministry of Culture and Information to publish a press statement saying the exhibition would not have any censorship and that all books would be available for visitors. “However, a few hours after the Booker Prize jury announced the Saudi novelist Abdo Khal winning the prestigious International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his work ‘Spewing Sparks as Big as Castles,’ published by Al-Jamal publications, the news about the ban on the novel began to spread,” Al-Hayat reported.

The daily added that the publishers of the novel confirmed the report about the ban.

“The publishing company had taken hundreds of copies of the novel to the exhibition, but it seems that they will have to carry back the books untouched unless the exhibition organizers take quick action to get the ban lifted,” the newspaper reported. “It is noteworthy that the novel was sold in large numbers in the last exhibition as Abdo Khal is popular among Saudi readers.”

Khal had said on an earlier occasion that his books were not sold in Saudi Arabia because they address taboos in the Arab world. “We’re more than just writers. We’re also activists fighting for change,” said Khal, who has not made any money and continues to struggle to get his novels published.

Other authors who have seen their titles banned from the book fair in past years include Turki Al-Hamad, Mahmoud Trawri and Leila Al-Jihani. Even Labor Minister Ghazi Al-Gosaibi — who is a playwright and poet — saw two of his works banned, “Freedom’s Apartment” and “The Insane Asylum.”