More than 500 Saudi and foreign publishers will take part in a major book fair that begins in Riyadh today. As many as 150,000 Arabic titles and 100,000 in English, French, Italian, German, Russian and other foreign languages will be displayed during the 10-day show.

“This exhibition represents a major expansion of the annual book shows organized by Saudi universities,” said Higher Education Minister Khaled Al-Anqari to the English language newspaper Arab News.

A number of cultural programs including seminars, lectures, art exhibitions and poetry readings will be held on the sidelines of the event, which will include work from students, researchers, writers, scholars, and thousands of readers and book enthusiasts. A number of authors will be given awards for their work during the fair, which has been organized by the Ministry of Education.