Saudi Minister of Culture Inaugurates Riyadh International Book Fair on Behalf of King Salman

Preparations for the opening of the Riyadh International Book Fair (Photo: Bashir Saleh).
Preparations for the opening of the Riyadh International Book Fair (Photo: Bashir Saleh).
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Saudi Minister of Culture Inaugurates Riyadh International Book Fair on Behalf of King Salman

Preparations for the opening of the Riyadh International Book Fair (Photo: Bashir Saleh).
Preparations for the opening of the Riyadh International Book Fair (Photo: Bashir Saleh).

On behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan inaugurated on Thursday the Riyadh International Book Fair (RIBF), with the participation of more than one thousand local, regional and international publishing houses from 28 countries.

In its new edition, the RIBF is held under the slogan, “A New Destination, A New Chapter”, and extends from Oct. 1-10 in its new location in Riyadh.

The most prominent cultural event in Saudi Arabia in the field of books and the publishing sector is organized this year by the Saudi Ministry of Culture, with the presence of Iraq as “guest of honor.”

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Iraqi Minister of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities Dr. Hassan Nadhem said that his country’s participation as a guest of honor at the Riyadh International Book Fair this year comes in light of the “growing relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and tireless diplomatic work to build real partnerships with the Kingdom at various levels.”

The activities of the cultural program, which is held on the sidelines of the RIBF, will kick off on Friday, in the presence of prominent Saudi, Arab and international writers, thinkers and critics, who will meet in a set of seminars, lectures and workshops to discuss various fields of cultural creativity.

The exhibition celebrates the experiences of pioneers of literature and arts, including Muhammad Mahdi Al-Jawahiri, Badr Shakir Al-Sayyab, Ali Jawad Al-Taher, Wassini Al-Araj and Prince Khalid Al-Faisal.

Prominent participants include Dr. Abdullah Al-Ghadami, American author Jordan Belfort, and his compatriot Chris Gardner.

Poetry evenings will be held by poets from Saudi Arabia and Iraq, and musical and artistic gatherings will be attended by Egyptian musician Omar Khairat, Iraqi Naseer Shamma, and Iraqi singer Saadoun Jaber.

The cultural program also celebrates Iraq as guest of honor, through a series of seminars and poetry evenings, in the presence of the Iraqi minister of Culture.

The RIBF cultural program is divided into three main parts: the first is “Book Talk” evenings, in which nine Saudi, Arab and international authors will be hosted to talk about their experiences in writing. Those include: Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Sheikha Hend Al-Qasimi, the Saudi traveler and author Abdullah Al-Jumah, Kuwaiti novelist Meshaal Hamad, Jordanian novelist Ayman Otoom, American author Jordan Belfort, Kuwaiti novelist Saud Alsanousi, American chef and author Marco Pierre White, and American writer Chris Gardner, author of the famous book, “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

In the second part, “Cultural Encounters,” more than 100 intellectuals and critics of different nationalities will talk about urgent literary and cultural subjects through 36 seminars and lectures held over the ten days of the exhibition.

The third part will be devoted to evenings and prizes honoring authors and icons who served Arab culture, including Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, Advisor to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and Emir of Makkah Al-Mukarramah Region, who will be honored by the Arab World Institute in Paris in a grand ceremony hosted by the exhibition, in return for his immense contribution to Arab culture.

The exhibition will also host over the next Monday and Tuesday the activities of the Publishers Conference - the first of its kind in the Kingdom - in order to discuss the reality of the publishing industry in the Arab world and the ways to make it more competitive at the international level.

Furthermore, the exhibition will organize more than 60 workshops of various stripes and cultural trends, presented by more than 100 experts and specialists in a variety of fields, including workshops on writing and composition, filmmaking, theater, culinary arts, children’s arts and creativity, heritage fashion, science fiction writing, and many others.



Separated by LA Wildfires, a Happy Reunion for Some Pets, Owners

Serena Null is reunited with her cat Domino, who was burned in the Eaton Fire, at Pasadena Humane, an animal shelter in Pasadena, California, on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
Serena Null is reunited with her cat Domino, who was burned in the Eaton Fire, at Pasadena Humane, an animal shelter in Pasadena, California, on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Separated by LA Wildfires, a Happy Reunion for Some Pets, Owners

Serena Null is reunited with her cat Domino, who was burned in the Eaton Fire, at Pasadena Humane, an animal shelter in Pasadena, California, on January 17, 2025. (AFP)
Serena Null is reunited with her cat Domino, who was burned in the Eaton Fire, at Pasadena Humane, an animal shelter in Pasadena, California, on January 17, 2025. (AFP)

When Serena Null saw the flames roaring toward her family home in the Los Angeles suburb of Altadena, she ran to find her pet Domino, but the cat eluded her grasp.

"We could see the fire from the front door, and so we just didn't have enough time, and we had to leave him," the 27-year-old Null said.

The ferocious blaze reduced her mother-in-law's house to ashes, and a search of the blackened rubble the following day proved fruitless. Null feared she would never see her green-eyed friend again.

But on Friday, to her amazement, she and Domino were reunited.

"I just was so relieved and just so happy that he was here," a tearful Null told AFP outside the NGO Pasadena Humane, where Domino -- suffering singed paws, a burnt nose and a high level of stress -- had been taken after being rescued.

Domino is one of several hundred pets brought to the center as the Eaton fire roared through Altadena, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes in such a rush that many left with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Pasadena Humane was accustomed to dealing with crises, but the sudden explosion in demand was without precedent.

"We've never had to take 350 at once in one day before," said the center's Kevin McManus. "It's been really overwhelming."

- Search and rescue -

Many animals were delivered by their owners, who had lost their homes and had to find temporary housing for pets while they themselves stayed in hotels or shelters.

But others were brought by rescue workers and volunteers. The center says on its website that when it receives a report of a pet left behind, it sends "search and rescue teams as quickly as possible in areas that are safe to enter."

The center opened up as much space as it could to accommodate the influx, even placing some pets in offices.

And it was not just dogs and cats, McManus said. There were species rarely seen in an animal shelter -- like a pony, which spent a night in the center.

More than 10 days after the fires began raging through Los Angeles, the center still houses some 400 animals, including rabbits, turtles, lizards and birds, including a huge green, red and blue macaw.

Many of the pets' owners, still without permanent housing, come to the center to visit their animal friends -- people like Winston Ekpo, who came to see his three German shepherds, Salt, Pepper and Sugar.

As firefighters in the area make progress, many animal owners are able to come and recover their pets, tears of sadness turning to tears of joy.

- Back home -

The center's website posts photos of recovered animals, including information on the time and place where they were rescued.

McManus said some 250 pets have so far been returned to their owners.

One of them, curiously, was Bombon, who had actually been lost long before the fires.

The Chihuahua mix went missing from its Altadena home in November, said 23-year-old Erick Rico.

He had begun to resign himself to never seeing Bombon again.

Then one day a friend told him he had seen a picture on the Pasadena Humane website that caught his attention.

When Rico saw it, he was so excited he couldn't sleep that night -- "it looked exactly like him," he said -- and he arrived at the center early the following morning.

When he saw his owners, Bombon "started crying a lot, wagging his tail and everything. He was very, very happy."

After the painful days of uncertainty, Rico too finally felt relief. "Now I'm just happy that he's back home."