4.5 billion annual investment value in the publishing and translation sector in the Kingdom
This sector represents one of the basic pillars of cultural and knowledge expression, and reflects the Kingdom’s efforts to enhance cultural exchange and support literary and creative talents.
7 factors
A recent report issued by the General Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises for the publishing and books sector stated that there are 500 publishing houses in the Kingdom, and that the publishing and translation sector in the Kingdom has an annual investment volume of 4.5 billion riyals, and an annual growth of 22% in the volume of visitors to book fairs in various regions. Kingdom.
The Authority confirmed that small and medium-sized publishing houses have favorable opportunities for growth in global markets, especially Arabic, identifying 7 factors for this, namely the presence of 25 Arabic-speaking countries, and 362 million speakers of the Arabic language, and that the Arabic language is ranked fourth in the world spoken by people, and there are 8,000. An Arabic audio book released in 2022.
The rate of digitization of Arabic books has reached 10%, with great growth opportunities, low levels of piracy in the Gulf, and the launch of the Kindle device in the Arabic language.
Major transformations
The Saudi literature sector witnessed a major boom with the emergence of many young writers who addressed modern issues that reflect the reality and aspirations of society, as cultural institutions, such as the Literature, Publishing and Translation Authority, work to support writers and writers by organizing literary competitions and forums and providing platforms for publishing.
National and international literary awards have also been launched to stimulate creativity, such as the Saudi Novel Award, which has contributed to highlighting distinctive local literary works. There has been development in its infrastructure and encouragement of investment in publishing houses, and many Saudi publishing houses have turned to digital transformation to meet the needs of readers for books. Electronic and audio.
A window to the world
While the Kingdom has paid special attention to the translation sector as a bridge for transferring culture and knowledge between peoples, the Kingdom has launched initiatives to translate literary and scientific works from Arabic into other languages and vice versa, with the aim of highlighting Saudi literature globally. The Literature, Publishing and Translation Authority provides financial and logistical support for translation projects, which contributes to Promoting cultural diversity.
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