Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) - Book Fair should reach necessary standards

The "Quarter-of-a-Century of Cultural Jihad session held at the TIBF's international hall of the literati, Mohammad Allahyari director of Book Bureau of Culture Ministry and book evaluation committee manager said the book fair has proved that in the past 25 editions it has always moved forward. However, the fair has defects as well that we should work on in order for the book fair to reach necessary standards.

IBNA: According to the press team of the international hall of literati based in the 25th Tehran International Book Fair, the session was held with the presence of Ali Akbar Ashari director of Tehran Book Garden, Mohammd Allahyari director of the Book Bureau of Culture Ministry, Mohammadreza Vasfi manager of foreign publishers of the fair, Lotfollah Saqarvani, manager of Hermes Publications, and Abdolazim Fereydoon, manager of Mehrab-e Qalam Publishing House.

At the outset, Ashari mentioned to book reading as an old sore in Iran and said: Our society has talked it over and over but no fundamental decision has been made and so people take less interest in hearing about it.

"According to the latest statistics, reading per capita in Tehran is 18 minutes whereas last year it was 27 minutes. Yet people still show great interest in attending the book fair and we should try to find a way to solve the paradox and encourage the people to read as largely as they like to come to the book fair," he added.

"Each year we allocate ten days to a specific book fair but this should be done throughout the year and that is why the municipal project of Tehran Book Garden started."

He expressed hope that by these endeavors the county's print industry would be revolutionized within the next two or three years.

Then Mohammadreza Vasfi said that about one fifth of the book fair, that is about 25 thousand meters, is given to the international section and this is great.

Sometimes it happens that a book may appear in Tehran fair before its global release and this shows the significance of the fair as it has become a good and profiting market for foreign publishers.

He then criticized the active presence of the mail system in the book fair. Given the service, people do not need to arrive in the fairground in order to post few books to other places in the country.

The next speaker, Mohammad Allahyari, emphasized on strict regulations on the book fair against any oppositions to Islam or religious beliefs of the country or publication of obscene pictures or those detracting the law or ethics.

Allahyari went on to say that despite recurrent managerial changes, the book fair has been moving forward in the past 25 editions; "However, the fair has defects as well that we should work on in order for the book fair to reach necessary standards."
Then Saqarvani stated that although gathering all publishers in one place is a great privilege, it also makes problems like uneasy access to publishers and limited spaces given to each publisher.
Fereydooni, representative of children's publishers in the session was the next speaker who emphasized on considering the needs and interests of children when designing the fairground. "A child cannot walk in long passages and when they reach the halls they are too tired to see the books.

The 25th Tehran International Book Fair is being held at Tehran's Grand Imam Khomeini Prayer Ground and will run through May 12, 2012.