The emergence of Saudi literature was a natural continuation of the Arabian Peninsula’s literary tradition.
[3] The beginning of the Saudi era in the Hijaz (1925) was characterised by widespread production and circulation of texts due to the emergence of a modern literary movement, the availability of printing technology (the first printing press had opened in Makkah in 1883), and the influence of broader Arab literary movements on Saudi writers.
These trends led to the 1925 AD publication of the first book in the history of the Kingdom, Mohammed bin Suroor Sabban’s Literature of the Hijaz.
That same year (1926 AD), Muhammad Hassan Awwad published Avowed Thoughts (Khawatir Musarrahah), making him the first Saudi writer to produce an independent literary work.
Poets wrote in a variety of genres and used prose as well as verse to examine social and political issues.