As many as 500 Saudi, Arab, and international publishers are showcasing the latest versions of their titles in over 350 pavilions at the first edition of Al-Sharqiya Book Fair, which kicked off at the Dhahran International Exhibition Center (Dhahran Expo) on Thursday.

The Literature, Publishing, and Translation Commission, under the Ministry of Culture, is organizing the 10-day event that will run through until March 11. The festival of writers and readers, titled “Exhibition, Culture, Civilization, and Art,” is the first book fair of its kind in the Eastern Province.

A wide variety of more than 140 cultural and literary events are being held as part of the fair. These include seminars, symposia, dialogue sessions, workshops, poetry evenings, and a concert of poems, performed by the Saudi National Orchestra on the last days of the fair.