Visitors at the Riyadh Book Fair have complained about the high prices of foreign books, the absence of the books of Abdulrahman Badawi and Ameen Ma'loof, and the fact that agents of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai'a) prevented a Saudi woman writer from signing her book for men. Yet they expressed their satisfaction with the overall organization and the size of the fair which was different than past years. Writers Abdu Khal, Abdullah Al-Thabet and Me'jeb Al-Zahrani demanded a public apology from the Hai'a for the “bad” treatment they received from its agents on Wednesday, which, they said, put the writers in an awkward position. “We only tried to get the signature of Halemah Mathfar on her new book,” Khal said, adding that they were prevented by the Hai'a even though they had never approached the writer herself, but had asked the fair's security guards to get the book signed for them. “We tried to explain but nobody listened,” he said. Al-Thabet regretted the agents' behavior and said, “The fact that we attempted to greet a woman writer from a distance is no justification for accosting us in front of everyone and taking us to the Hai'a center.” Me'jeb Al-Zahrani said they were in a difficult situation as writers, noting that Al-Thabet was verbally abused by the agents. “We are over 50-years-old, and when we went to the Hai'a center, we met a person who started lecturing us and giving us advice as if we had done something wrong,” he said. “We want a public apology from the head of the Hai'a,” he added. Prices of books from foreign publishing houses books were 20 to 25 percent higher than normal, which was attributed to costs of transportation, rental of space at the fair and other factors. Hussien Al-Zahrani, a visitor, said people are compelled to buy as some of these books are not available in the Kingdom. A number of visitors commended the new location of the fair with ample space for viewing books and sufficient parking. They also spoke favorably of the organization of the fair which created sections, such as, Islamic books, philosophy and novels, and of the new children's section with educational books and special training and cultural programs. Others who bought books were annoyed by the fact they were required to present their invoices at the gate on their way out, saying that it had caused unnecessary delay and overcrowding as everybody needed to acquire an invoice. A member of the staff, Abdu Raheemi, said the procedure was necessary to curb the stealing of books which was a factor in past years. Mustafa Adel, a publishing house staff member, said many publishers did not attend the fair in the past because the old location was too small and inconvenient. Mohammad Al-Tammam, a visitor, said many books were not available, yet other books could be found that had been banned in the past. The cultural activity associated with the fair was inaugurated with a lecture titled “Formations of Brazilian Culture” by honorary professor at the University of Brasilia, Roque De Barros Laria. “The aim of my lecture,” he said, “was to show how Brazil was able to rise as a state through the achieved interaction among different races that formed what we call today the Brazilian culture.” He reviewed Brazil's demography and racial and cultural diversity in a comprehensive framework, noting that 220 racial groups with 180 different languages have contributed to the formation of a rich, diverse culture. On Brazilian literature, author Elizabeth Hazm talked about the well-known Brazilian writer Jorge Amado and his works which dealt with aspects of life in the Brazilian, cacao-producing state of Bahia half a century ago.
