Having clocked 1 million visitors in 2019, the Riyadh fair was cancelled by the Pandemic in 2020, and there is next to no chance of seeing any records broken this year, but it will be interesting to see how much footfall the event can accrue.


With more than 1,000 local, regional and international publishing houses from 30 countries lined up at Saudi Arabia’s biggest literary event, the 2021 Riyadh International Book Fair is putting on a brave show in pandemic conditions, with Iraq as Guest of Honour and 120 events set to take place within the fair, including the nowadays de rigueur cooking and children’s shows.

The 10-day event, which began September 30 with the theme New Destination, New Chapter, is the first to be organized by the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture.

October 4-5 will see the first ever Publisher’s Conference, with more than 40 publishers and industry reps discussing the future of Arab publishing.

Having clocked 1 million visitors in 2019 –

– the Riyadh fair was cancelled by the Pandemic in 2020, and there is next to no chance of seeing any records broken this year, but it will be interesting to see how much footfall the event can accrue.

Follow the Riyadh fair in English on twitter: @MOCSaudi_En