Centre to attend largest book fair in Saudi Arabian capital to showcase latest cultural projects and publications

 The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), part of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi), will participate at the Riyadh International Book Fair 2022, held at the Riyadh Front district in the Saudi capital from September 29 to October 8, 2022.

Organized by the Saudi Ministry of Culture, the Riyadh International Book Fair 2022 is the largest book fair in the Kingdom’s history and one of the most important book fairs in the region.

The participation of ALC aims to promote effective engagement with publishing industry stakeholders and book fairs specialists, in addition to highlighting the ALC’s initiatives, projects and activities in publishing and translation.

The ALC will participate in panel discussions, book launches, workshops, and other meetings. As well as presenting more than 450 ALC titles to visitors, the ALC will launch the second part of the Arabic Poetry Series, which includes books prepared by specialist poetry researchers, with 75 volumes so far, reaching to 100 by the end of this year. The poetry series aims to encourage Arab poetic heritage, which reflects Arab identity.

His Excellency Dr. Ali Bin Tamim, Chairman of the ALC, said: “Riyadh International Book Fair is a vital innovative platform that promotes publishing, book making, and creative industries and reflects the flourishing of the cultural scene in Saudi Arabia and the renaissance the Kingdom it is witnessing across various fields. As part of our commitment to preserving and promoting the Arabic language, this event is an ideal opportunity for the ALC to consolidate our relationships with the experts and specialists within Saudi Arabia’s publishing sector. It will also allow us to exchange our inspiring visions and ideas to enhance the ALC’s cooperation with publishers in the Gulf region and Arab World and to support Arab cultural endeavors, specifically related to Arabic reading.”

The ALC's participation includes displaying its various digital projects in addition to holding meetings with a number of culture and media agencies in Kingdom including the Literature, Publishing and Translation Commission, Riyadh International Book Fair, Saudi Publishers Association, the General Secretariat of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, and the Human and Environmental Affairs Sector - Department of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities. Meetings will also be held with Saudi universities and publishers.

During participation at the Riyadh International Book Fair, the ALC will showcase the ‘Oyoun El-Rahalat’ series, which summarises the journeys and adventures of Westerners to the Arab region. The series highlights the Western explorers, travellers, merchants, geographers, writers, painters and photographers, who were inspired by the magic of the Arab World. ‘Al Mukhtar Min Kitab Al Asfar’ will also be presented, which summarises the most important books of Arab travellers to foreign lands. This series includes fascinating excerpts from texts written over centuries of travel by Arab writers, scholars, pilgrims, tourists and adventurers.

The ALC will also present its One Hundred Books and Books project which is creating a list of Arabic books and arts, counting what was written in Arabic and providing a brief definition of it. Another project, Dhakhaer Emiratia, is a series which sheds light on early Emirati publications, representing them and introduce them in new ways for benefit from their components.

Furthermore, publications from the Kalima project will be presented. The Kalima project aims to revive the translation movement in the Arab world and support the active cultural movement of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to contribute its role to the map of the regional and international cultural scene.

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