It lasts 11 days[5] and regularly attracts over a half million visitors (it is not the largest fair in the MENA region,[6] contrary to some claims[7]).

[c] The fair aims to provide freer access to literature, and a large selection is available,[19] including some books banned or not usually sold in Saudi Arabia.

[19][24] "If the author is a woman [male] people have to have their book signed through a third party so as to prevent her direct contact with the public", the head of the Haiʾa at the fair explained in 2009.

[25][15] The fair has been patrolled by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haiʾa, religious police), who enforce gender segregation and advise on dress.

[15] Traditionally, the monarchy has presented itself as a progressive force, prevented from moving quickly with liberalizing reforms by the strong conservatism of the population;[54] by implication, if the country were to become democratic, then it would become much more radically conservative.

[55] It has also been suggested that the monarchy seeks to hinder a unified Saudi political movement by playing up tribalism and sectarian religious differences, and by associating demonstrations, civil disobedience and criticism with foreign actors.

[58] Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia, who make up ~30% of the population (official census figures, as of 2014[update])[59] have limited rights and are disenfranchised, an additional potential source of unrest.

[44][29] There is a drive to provide leisure opportunities for young people; movie theaters and music concerts are now permitted, and fashion, art, and sport promoted.

[45] Economic reforms, driven by falling oil prices, have varying levels of support, and a poor economy is a source of discontent.

[76] The Saudi government (through the Ministry of Higher Education) was involved with organizing the event for the first time in 2006;[13] the Riyadh Exhibitions Company said that they had signed a co-operation agreement.

[13] A discussion panel was disrupted by hecklers who shouted down a member of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia[81] (Mohammed Al-Zulfa[4]) speaking at the fair[81] on women's driving.

[82] A discussion on censorship, whose panelists included former Information Minister Muhammad Abdo Yamani and pro-government editor Turki al-Sudeiri, was shouted down by protestors, who also surrounded the panellists and physically assaulted at least one journalist.

[84] In 2009, the fair moved to the much larger[25] Riyadh International Exhibition Center on King Abdullah Road,[21] and ran from Thursday 3[26] until 13 March.

[85] Saudi newspapers, which are government-controlled,[11] reported that prices of books from non-Saudi publishing houses were up 20 to 25%, due to the costs of transportation, rental of space at the fair, and other factors.

[26][42] They report that some male writers[26] had their books signed; as they left, one waved and said "Thank you and goodbye" to the author,[25][26] and religious police accused him of addressing an unrelated woman.

[26] Satirical novelist and journalist[90] Abdo Khal and poet Abdullah al-Thabet[91][92] (and law professor Mojab al-Zahrani, according to some accounts[88][86]) complained that they were then verbally abused and taken to the religious police center;[26] they were released without charge the same day.

Halimah Matafar said that she was the only woman at the fair treated in this manner; she attributed it to her criticism (in her weekly column) of the religious police: "I felt like I was wearing an explosive belt, not signing books...

[15] Abdo Khal's prizewinning[95] novel Tarmi bi-Sharar (English title: Spewing Sparks as Big as Castles[96]) was withdrawn from the fair.

[102] According to Al Arabiya, one challenged Abdul Aziz Khoja, the Minister of Culture and Information, on the selection of speakers, complaining that they were too liberal.

On the last day of the fair, a hailstorm lead to extensive leaks in the roof of the Riyadh Expo Center, flooding the exhibition hall.

[10] A poll found that women at the fair sought socially-critical novels, followed by studies on social and political issues and religious self-help books.

They complained that the fair was uncensored, and thus allowed perverted literature which encourages ideological anarchy, including texts undermining the truths of Islam, and discussing deviant and pagan religions, sex, and various abominations.

[9] Women and single men were again allowed to attend simultaneously, and the Haiʾa announced that they would only be reporting problematic books to the Ministry, not confiscating them themselves.

[19] Similar actions were taken against works by well-known poets Badr Shaker al-Sayyab, Abdul Wahab al-Bayati, and Muin Bseiso.

[9] A seminar entitled "Youth and Arts... A Call for Coexistence" was stopped by religious police after professor Mojab al-Zahrani condemned the destruction of monuments by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

[117] Journey to a Land Not Ruled By Allah, by Ibrahim al-Tamimi, was reported banned after conservatives tweeted objections to it using the "Campaign Against Atheist Accounts" hashtag.

[9] Youssef Ziedan's books were confiscated midway through the 2017 fair, which he attributed to his mention of the disputed Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir.

[43][124] Anas al-Mazrou, a law professor at King Saud University, was arrested for speaking of the detention of women's rights activists in Saudi Arabia during one of these panel discussions at the 2019 fair.

They said that "Of the six Arab Book Fairs we annually monitor, antisemitic texts are sadly the most numerous in Riyadh", and asked the Saudi government to apply the same measures to "all forms of hate, on the same level as offences to Islam".

[131] The Saudi government announced that the 2022 event would span ten days beginning on 29 September and ending on 8 October 2022, with Tunisia as the guest of honor.