RIYADH: Riyadh is hosting a two-day Arab publisher’s conference sponsored by the Saudi Publishers’ Society and the Arab Publishers League through Wednesday.
The conference that opened on Tuesday tackled the subject of the future of Arab publishing and was attended by publishers and directors of publishing societies throughout the world of Arab publishing.
Honorary President of the Saudi Publishers’ Society, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, expressed his worry regarding the haziness that surrounds the issue of publishing.
“The Arab Thought Foundation in 2007 reported there is one book for every 12,000 Arab citizens, while there is one book for every 500 people in Britain, and one for every 900 people in Germany,” said Al-Faisal. Ahmad Al-Hamdan, president of the Saudi Publishers’ Society pointed out that the conference would analyze the status of Arab publishing and to carry study Arab cultural development.
Al-Hamdan said that the timing of the conference did not reflect an existing book crisis, but rather a trust issues between the reader and the book. Al-Hamdan also clarified that hosting the conference in the Kingdom was due to the fact that the Kingdom consumes a lion’s share of publications.
“Half of the Arab World production and publications are marketed in the Kingdom,” he said.
Herman P. Spruijt, head of the International Publishers’ Association, said publishing is a special kind on industry that promotes literacy and dialogue. Spruijt added that publishing depends on government policies, including copyright enforcement.
“Government policies on education, copyright, censorship can determine whether a publishing industry worth its name exists or not,” he said.
Mohammad Abdullatif Talat, chief of the Arab Publishers Association, said that publishing is not an industry like other industries but rather is one of the establishers of social and cultural infrastructure.
“This Arab world that embraces a large number of creative and thinking brains and an accumulating sum of knowledge throughout centuries, contributes minimally in the making of international knowledge,” said Talat, adding that the Arabic publishing industry is facing deep-rooted challenges.
