The 2021 edition of the Riyadh International Book Fair will be kicking off on 1 October at the Riyadh Front, with local and international exhibitors along with publishers confirming their participation.

The fair — which will run until 10 October — will be hosting a conference featuring major publishers between 4 and 5 October and workshops on copyrights and translation.

The Saudi Ministry of Culture also announced that Iraq will be the guest of honour for this edition.

Last year, the fair could not be held in its scheduled time slot — 2 to 11 April 2020 —due to the coronavirus restrictive measures enforced by the Saudi state at the time.

The organiser of the fair — The Saudi Commission for Literature, Publishing, and Translation — is offering many incentives to publishers and exhibitors to participate in the fair, including offering them a 50 percent discount on their booth fees and bearing the cost of shipping their books on their behalf. 

The fair will also offer a digital store where publishers can sell their books to readers who will not be able to physically attend the event.

The publishing sector in the Arab world, like many others, was negatively affected by the coronavirus, with many book fairs getting cancelled or postponed. The lockdowns and restrictive measures also took a massive toll on the industry, which was not prepared to go online.

The industry quickly recovered, however, by ramping up its online presence.