Saudi Pavilion Highlights Books and Publishing
As part of a journey full of inspiration and fun, the Saudi Arabia Pavilion, the second largest pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, takes visitors on a journey through ambitions across four main pillars: nature, people, heritage, and opportunities. With its new weekly 16 Windows cultural programme, a session titled Books and Publishing in Saudi Arabia shed light on the Kingdom’s publishing industry.
The potential of writers and publishers in the Kingdom was highlighted by the participation of writer Arwa Khamis of Arwa Arab Publishing House; Mujib Al-Shamri, author and founding partner of Tashkeel Publishing House; and Abdullah Al Ghubein, General Manager at Athar Publishing House. The session was moderated by librarian Tariq Al Khawaji at Dhahran’s King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra), a beacon of creativity, culture, and knowledge.
The participants highlighted the reality of the publishing industry and book production in the Kingdom, which in recent years has been able to achieve qualitative leaps, stressing that the need to highlight Saudi creativity and the richness of the Saudi environment constituted one of the main reasons that encouraged them to engage in the publishing industry and establish its role. During the session, participants discussed the role that book covers play and their impact on marketing operations.
On the sidelines of the weekly 16 Windows event, the Kingdom’s pavilion organized at the Palm Garden hosted the Storytelling event, where works of author Khamis was attended by a large number of children. At the same time, children were also given the opportunity to put pen on paper with the aim of teaching them the techniques of story writing and making them worth reading with its creative and intellectual content.
The 13,059 sqm Saudi Arabia Pavilion, designed by Spanish architecture firm Boris Micka Associates (BMA) is located in the Opportunity District, based on the sub-theme Opportunity.
