The latest cultural headlines in the media.

World book dealers beat Iran to the punch in purchasing Jordac’s books

Tehran Times: World book dealers and collectors have succeeded in purchasing some of the books of the personal library of Lebanese Christian author George Jordac before Iran made efforts to acquire a part of the collection, the director of the Iran National Library and Archives (INLA) said on Monday.

Last year, INLA announced its interest in purchasing the entire collection of books and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to provide the necessary funds, Es’haq Salahi told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency.

However, the opportunity was lost after the ministry announced that it was not able to provide the funding, he added.

In addition, some cultural officials had expressed opposition to the plan to buy the collection, Salahi stated.

The Tehran Municipality had also expressed interest in buying the collection.

Jordac had said earlier that he would prefer to see his library used for cultural purposes and would not like to see book dealers make a huge profit on the deal.

Jordac is the author of “The Voice of Human Justice”, which is a biography of Imam Ali (AS).
The author is an enlightened man of letters who wrote the book with sincerity.

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Over 70 foreign troupes keen to perform at Iranian children’s theater festival

Tehran Times: Over 70 foreign theater troupes have submitted their works to Iran’s International Theater Festival for Children and Young Adults, which will be held in Hamedan in October.

The festival has received submissions from Germany, Italy, Egypt, Belgium, Switzerland, Japan and several other countries.

The lineup for the festival is scheduled to be announced late August, the organizers said in a press release on Monday.

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Qur’an Exhibition Welcomed

Iran Daily: The 20th International Qur’an Exhibition was well-received on its opening day on Monday. Large number of Qur’an lovers attended the event.

Addressing the opening ceremony, Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Seyyed Mohammad Husseini said, “Qur’an is the book of guidance. Holding the ongoing exhibition during the holy month of Ramadan will lead us to impeccability.”

According to ISNA, the 20th International Holy Qur’an Exhibition opened during a ceremony on Sunday night at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Prayer Ground (Mosalla).

The motto of the event is ‘Qur’an, Culture of Awakening’.
Several programs on different topics, including Qur’an and economy, Qur’an and sociology, as well as Qur’an and sciences have been arranged. New sections such as Islamic Awakening and the miracles of Qur’an have also been added.

Visitors will also get the chance to have their old texts of the Holy Qur’an restored or even exchanged for new copies. Other programs include introducing a series of newly published books as well as honoring Holy Qur’an experts.

Moreover, the First International Exhibition of Qur’anic Manuscripts will be held at Iran’s National Library and Documents Center.

The event will display a collection of Persian and Arabic manuscripts of the Holy Qur’an which have been created by Iranian and foreign artists.

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Nat’l Library Offers Course On Book Repair

Iran Daily: Iran’s National Library and Archives Organization is offering the seventh practical course on book repair.

According to IBNA, the course is being offered in line with the organization’s agreement with the countries of the region and to implement the requirements of the agreements with ECO member states and the Constitution of the South and West Asian Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (SWARBICA).

The current course will run for 6 days. Six Iraqis are already taking part in the course which began on July 14 and will run until July 19.

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Berlin literary festival invites Iran female writer

Presstv: Female Iranian author Farideh Khalatbari has been invited to the children section of the 2012 Berlin International Literature Festival, with her three selected books.

Khalatbari’s three linear creations Wolves and Men, Wrong Bus and Penitence have been selected to be presented at the reading programs of the festival.

Farideh Khalatbari, who is the director of Shabaviz Publications as well, has been honored in several international festivals and many of her books have been translated into English, Greek, German, French and Korean so far.

French rendition of Khalatbari’s Wolves and Men and her other work The land of Water lilies were also released in France during last year. Moreover, her book Misunderstanding was honored at the 2012 edition of New Horizons awards in Bologna.

Penitence was introduced in Germany and then published there last year. The author’s other book Wrong Bus was released in South Korea and it is currently under publication in Turkey, Germany and Taiwan.

The German publisher of the Wrong Bus is planning to finish the process and unveil the book at this year’s Berlin festival.

The 12th annual International Literature Festival Berlin (ILB) will be held from September 9 to 15, 2012, at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin.

Established in 2001, the festival is programmed to provide opportunities for all authors to read their texts in the original version, thereafter, an actor will read the German translation of the text. Presenters and translators are on hand to allow a discussion between the author and the audience to take place.

As the festival program has an annually varying theme, this year, it will present several subsections such as ‘Literatures of the World’, ‘International Children’s and Youth Literature’, 'Reflections' and 'Specials'.

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