RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Culture Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Farhan announced that the Riyadh International Book Fair 2020 would run from April 2-11 at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center. For the first time, the Culture Ministry will handle the mission of organizing and managing the fair. The ministry’s early preparations have been ongoing since April this year, where Prince Badr designated Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Assem as director of the fair. The culture minister is personally following the preparations for next year’s fair, to present an event that highlights the cultural leaps the Kingdom is making, and to shed light on the value of books in Saudi Arabia, said spokesman Abdul Karim Al-Hameed. The fair is sponsored by King Salman, and has succeeded in attracting a remarkable array of writers, publishers and literary figures from across the Arab world. Over 500,000 people visit the fair every year, and more than 500 Arab and international publishing houses take part. The fair will display a large collection of books for children, Islam, Arab culture, history, medicine, technology, mass media and communication, as well as biographical accounts, fiction and novels in popular languages including Arabic, English, French, Turkish, Urdu and Spanish. SPA Riyadh