'Riyadh Reads' is the Motto of Riyadh International Book Fair 2024

The motto aims to emphasize the importance of reading in enhancing the quality of life and broadening the intellectual and cultural horizons of readers
The motto aims to emphasize the importance of reading in enhancing the quality of life and broadening the intellectual and cultural horizons of readers
TT

'Riyadh Reads' is the Motto of Riyadh International Book Fair 2024

The motto aims to emphasize the importance of reading in enhancing the quality of life and broadening the intellectual and cultural horizons of readers
The motto aims to emphasize the importance of reading in enhancing the quality of life and broadening the intellectual and cultural horizons of readers

The Saudi Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission has announced the motto for the Riyadh International Book Fair (RIBF) as "Riyadh Reads."

The fair, organized by the commission, will be held from September 26 to October 5 at King Saud University, with the participation of leading figures in culture, literature, and thought from the Kingdom, the region, and the world.

The motto aims to emphasize the importance of reading in enhancing the quality of life and broadening the intellectual and cultural horizons of readers. It also highlights Riyadh as a city that promotes reading, featuring images of people holding books and reading with the words "Riyadh Reads," reflecting the spirit of the fair and expressing its cultural, intellectual, and literary content.

An awareness campaign for the RIBF motto was launched to attract the attention of the public, including adults, adolescents, children, readers, and publishers. The campaign includes billboards in the streets of Riyadh and King Khalid International Airport featuring images of people holding books with the slogan "Riyadh Reads."
Over 2,000 publishing houses and agencies from the Kingdom, the region, and the world will participate in this year's fair, distributed across 800 pavilions and representing over 30 countries. This reflects the significant importance of the RIBF as one of the most prominent and important book fairs at the regional and global levels.

The new edition of the fair offers a rich cultural program that includes over 200 events suitable for all ages. The events encompass various seminars, panel discussions, lectures, poetry evenings, and workshops presented by a select group of writers, intellectuals, and cultural figures from Saudi Arabia and other countries.

The topics discussed will cover various fields, and the outdoor area of the fair will feature numerous interactive shows and distinctive cultural, artistic, and theatrical events presented by a group of artists and theater professionals.



South Korea’s Han Sells One Million Books after Nobel Win

 A visitor takes a commemorative photo after buying books by South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang near a special section for her at a bookstore in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. The letters read "Congratulations on Han Kang's the Nobel Prize award." and "Awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in literature." (AP)
A visitor takes a commemorative photo after buying books by South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang near a special section for her at a bookstore in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. The letters read "Congratulations on Han Kang's the Nobel Prize award." and "Awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in literature." (AP)
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South Korea’s Han Sells One Million Books after Nobel Win

 A visitor takes a commemorative photo after buying books by South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang near a special section for her at a bookstore in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. The letters read "Congratulations on Han Kang's the Nobel Prize award." and "Awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in literature." (AP)
A visitor takes a commemorative photo after buying books by South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang near a special section for her at a bookstore in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. The letters read "Congratulations on Han Kang's the Nobel Prize award." and "Awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in literature." (AP)

More than a million copies of books by Han Kang, the first South Korean to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, have sold locally since the honor was announced, bookstores said Wednesday.

The short story writer and novelist is best known overseas for her Man Booker Prize-winning "The Vegetarian", her first novel translated into English.

The 53-year-old, who also became the first Asian woman author to win the Nobel, was chosen "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life", the Swedish Academy said last week.

Han's win has created a sensation in South Korea, with the websites of major bookstores and publishing houses crashing after it was announced, as tens of thousands rushed to order her books.

As of Wednesday morning, at least 1.06 million copies, including e-books, had been sold since last Thursday's Nobel announcement, three major bookstores and online retailers -- Kyobo, Aladin and YES24 -- told AFP.

"Han Kang's books are experiencing unprecedented sales. This is a situation we have never seen before," Kyobo spokesperson Kim Hyun-jung told AFP.

Online bookstore Aladin said Han's victory had not only led to a staggering 1,200-fold increase in the sales of her books compared with the same period last year, but dramatically boosted the sales of South Korean literature as a whole.

Since her win, "the overall sales of Korean literature increased by more than 12 times compared to the previous year", it said in a statement.

Sales of two books Han recently mentioned she was reading -- "Inventory of Losses" by Judith Schalansky and "Atlas de botanique élémentaire" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- had also surged, Aladin said.

Kyobo Book Center said while it does not have exact figures, Han's books had seen dramatically higher sales compared with other Nobel prize winners.

"We have been in the publishing industry for a while, but this whole situation feels very surreal even to some of us," a Kyobo employee told AFP.

South Koreans have been overjoyed by the news, with Han's alma mater, Seoul's Yonsei University, displaying banners that read: "Congratulations to the proud Yonsei alumnus, Han Kang, on winning the Nobel Prize in Literature."

In her hometown of Gwangju -- where a massacre occurred in 1980 that later inspired Han's acclaimed novel "Human Acts" -- a congratulatory banner was hung on a building fired on by a military helicopter at the time.

Local reports said some printing houses had been operating at full capacity on the weekend to meet the demand for Han's books.

"I've never been this busy since I joined the company in 2006," an Aladin employee told AFP.

"But it's all been very happy."