Book lovers explore thoughts from afar

US deputy chief of mission Timothy A. Lenderking praised the positive response of Saudi families toward the Riyadh International Book Fair.
The diplomat commended the Saudi government and the organizers of the book fair for providing a healthy venue for people to learn about international books and encourage reading.
“I am impressed with the variety of books from different countries and I also appreciate the authors who came here to sign the books. This is a great opportunity for families to explore the latest books from different countries,” Lenderking said in an interview with Arab News at the book fair on Thursday.
He said: “We are representing several hundred books from the US at the Riyadh International Book Fair. We love to participate in educational work and reiterate that the doors of US universities are open to Saudi students.
"These types of events stimulate the mind and we value our relationship with Saudi Arabia based on mutual understanding and people-to-people relations,” he added.
Appreciating the effort of the Saudi government to encourage higher studies, he said: “We have more than 70,000 Saudi students studying in the US through the King Abdullah scholarship program and we are very proud of them.
“We also have a team from North Eastern University here today. We also have a big academic fair coming up in April, which is part of our education work.”
Saleh bin Mued Al-Ghamdi, director of Riyadh International Book Fair, told Arab News that the book fair is witnessing a positive response from people in Saudi Arabia and other countries. "Our aim is to offer citizens, residents and visitors different educational and professional activities.”
He said the organizers received 1,400 requests from different publishing companies and people who wanted to participate in the fair but they could not all be accommodated due to the shortage of space.
“Saudi citizens have come to eagerly await this book fair every year. A large number of books that people purchase here are not available in the market,” Al-Ghamdi added.
Anas Al-Shehri, a representative of the King Saud University, said: “We are representing more than 400 books in French, Spanish and Arabic about Islamic heritage, literature, medicine, pharmacy, scientific researches, Muslim scientists, Spanish art and tourism, manuscripts of the Qur’an and some ancient Qur’an covers.”
“We have witnessed first hand the curiosity of Saudi people toward books from different countries, authors and religions. I hope that the participation of Spain as a guest of honor will allow visitors to understand the culture of Spain,” he said.
The 11-day book fair will continue through March 14 and will open its doors to students from March 9 to March 13.
The Riyadh International Book Fair is one of the largest literary festivals in Riyadh, witnessing the participation of more than one million visitors.
Minister of Culture and Information Abdulaziz Khoja recently observed that the Riyadh International Book Fair has been improving every year and has become one of the most important international literary fairs.