Towards New Horizons in the Arab World – İntrotema at the Riyadh International Book Fair 2025

From 2 to 11 October 2025, İntrotema Literary Agency took part in the Riyadh International Book Fair at Princess Noura bint Abdulrahman University. Held under the theme “Riyadh Reads”, the fair served as a dynamic platform for literary exchange and cultural dialogue across the Arab world.

This year’s edition brought together more than 2,000 publishing houses and agencies from over 25 countries, reflecting Saudi Arabia’s growing role as a cultural hub, alongside a rich programme of seminars, lectures, poetry evenings and workshops.

At the fair, we presented our fiction, YA and illustrated titles to Arab and international publishers, with a focus on Arabic translations and co-editions. We met rights professionals, editors, literary agents and translators looking for new voices, and explored licensing, co-publication and promotional partnerships. Our conversations with publishers from Egypt, Lebanon and the Gulf region centred on translation rights and co-editions.

Translators and editors increasingly see translation as a cultural investment that connects regional literatures and a shared intellectual heritage. We also noted a growing interest in youth literature and hybrid narrative forms that blend prose with visual storytelling.