Some 260 women have tried driving at the booth of the General Directorate of the Traffic at Riyadh Book Fair.
The women also experienced different settings including crowded cities, small cities and villages. They also drove in the rain, fog and even snow. Susan Baakil a photographer described the experience as “great.” She said she already holds a license from the USA, but she is waiting for the chance this June to try her car in Jeddah.
This year, the number of women who are signing their books at Riyadh Book Fair are 143 authors compared to 135 men. Thus women contribute 51.4 percent of authors signing their books this year. The signing is scheduled from 4:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. and will end on Saturday 24th March 2018. Among the female writers is Sara Al-Hamli who is signing her book ‘Do I Belong to You’. Women books also include ‘What if I were a man?’ for Hanan Abu Humain; ‘Ladies of Evangeline the Upheaval’ for Alia Al-Hazmi; ‘Someone on my shoulder’ for Siham Arishi’s; ‘Sections from a Life of a Woman’ by Hasina Shar and ‘my disability is the secret of my fitness’ by Elham Al-Harthi’s among many other novels, short stories and self development titles.
Women also constituted 22 out of the 29 winners in the Translation Marathon Competition organized by the Ministry of Culture and Information during Riyadh Book Fair 2018. Some 1500 are competing in this first translation completion. The translations are from Arabic to English or French. Translators are required to translate texts addressing culture, art, history and heritage or texts about main characters and achievements in the kingdom. 200 texts were selected and a committee evaluated the translations. Each day 200 candidates will compete and at the end of the day winners will are announced.
Saudi Women during the translation test
Signing Area
