RIYADH — A writing retreat, organized by the Ministry of Culture, was launched on Wednesday in Unaizah. During the seven days of the event, 10 Saudi and Arab writers are gathering in various locations of the Kingdom to conduct writing and discussion workshops. The retreat is being held to help improve the Saudi literary content and enable the participants to share their literary experiences. The ministry of culture chose short story writing as the focus of the first session of the retreat. Each session will have a specific genre of writing as its focus as the retreat moves to different areas of Saudi Arabia. This is the first of its kind event being organized in the Kingdom to support creative writing and provide an innovative platform for authors to meet and share experiences to enhance the literary atmosphere in the Kingdom. The writing retreat comes as part of the activities of the literary and publishing sector, which is managed by Dr. Mohammed Hasan Alwan. It is one of the programs in which the ministry of culture aims to support Saudi creative literature, and empower the talents in this field to enrich knowledge contributing to the progress and diversification of the nation's literary arena.