JEDDAH: In a city often understood by its speed and scale of ideas, a creative movement is unfolding around tables with ink stains and unfinished drafts.
Three years ago, British writer Lubna Ahmed-Haque arrived in the Kingdom’s capital and had a simple proposition: coffee and conversation for anyone interested in writing. This idea blossomed into Writers in Riyadh, a community of nearly 600 creatives preparing for its inaugural Riyadh Writers Con in February.
“We are passionate about giving aspiring writers a platform to grow their art and take an idea from being an outline, a thought, into an actual, full-blown story,” Ahmed-Haque told Arab News. “We’re really, really passionate about mental well-being, so that underpins a lot of what we do.”
Within the community’s story is the larger vision of why Riyadh is becoming the region’s creative capital. As a meeting point of cultures, professions, and creative impulses, the city proved to be fertile ground. From that first coffee meetup, Writers in Riyadh expanded organically into weekly workshops, open mic nights, and poetry supper clubs with Beast House, a members club for creative professionals.
Ahmed-Haque herself understands the vulnerability of the writing process as a medical copywriter working on her own contemporary fantasy novel. “Your first draft is literally you telling yourself the story,” she said. “That’s the best advice someone gave me.”
