08.02.12
8 Feb 2012 10:42
The latest cultural headlines in the media.
Iranian children enjoying Korean folk tales
Tehran Times: Persian translations of two Korean books comprising folk tales for children have recently been published in Iran.
Amrud Publications has released “New Clothes for New Year’s Day” by Hyun-joo Bae and “The Old Woman and the Tiger” by Dae In-jo in Persian translation.
The books were translated by Korean-based Iranian Hong Tae-yoo into Persian.
“The Old Woman and the Tiger” features different creatures including turtles and objects like chestnuts, drills and mortars.
All these creatures and objects helped the old woman to rescue herself from the tiger which has a message of cooperation and sympathy for children.
Another book “New Clothes for New Year’s Day” takes the hands of children to follow a young Korean girl as she dresses and prepares for celebrating the Lunar New Year. The story demonstrates how important New Year’s Day is in the Korean culture.
“While the reverence with which the girl greets the holiday is specifically Korean, her gladness and anticipation -- and Bae’s skillful rendering -- is sure to have universal appeal,” the Washington Post mentioned about the book.
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Leader advises literati to write poems to boost Islamic Awakening
Tehran Times: Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has emphasized the significant role of literature in the uprising of Islamic Awakening.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks in Tehran on Monday at a meeting with the Iranian and foreign literati who attended the International Congress on Islamic Awakening Literature.
He asked the literary figures from Islamic countries to write poetry that would have a great influence on the uprising of the Islamic Awakening.
At the meeting, guests from Tunisia, Egypt, Lebanon, Bahrain and several other countries recited their poetry in honor of Prophet Muhammad (S), the Islamic Awakening, and the 33rd anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution.
The Leader also stated that the concept of the poetry with the central theme of the Islamic Awakening must give insight into the Islamic nations, saying, “Special attention needs to be paid to the literature of Islamic Awakening and its lofty goals and processes.”
He emphasized that the role of religion, faith in God, and Quranic concepts must also be covered in the poetry of the Islamic Awakening since any movement rooted in religious beliefs will be invulnerable and everlasting.
He also said he regarded the uprising of the Islamic Awakening a true awakening which will not end and will continue; and the history of the Islamic ummah will surely change with God’s permission.
The congress was organized to build a consensus among the ummah to support the divine values as well as to reinforce the resistance against the global arrogance, Zionism and those who back them, Iran’s World Assembly of Islamic Awakening (WAIA) Secretary General Ali-Akbar Velayati had said during the opening ceremony on Saturday.
About 80 literati from Islamic countries were invited to the two-day congress, which was organized by WAIA and the Art Bureau.
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Iran unveils Qur’an manscript dedicated by Turkey
Presstv: Iran has unveiled an 11th-century manuscript of the holy Qur’an dedicated by Turkey’s Topkapi Palace Museum, during a ceremony in Tehran.
Many Iranian and Turkish officials attended the unveiling ceremony held in Iran’s Majlis Library, Museum and Documentation Center.
Iran’s Majlis speaker Ali Larijani, Director of the Topkapi Museum Ilber Ortayli, and theTurkish Ambassador to Tehran Umit Yardim were among the senior officials who attended the ceremony on February 7.
The manuscript is the eighth book of a 14-volume Qura’n inscribed by Uthman ibn Husayn al-Warraq in Kufic. It has been translated into Persian by Mohammad Haeri Emadi.
“The Topkapi Museum has for the first time dedicated a copy of such a precious treasure to Iran’s Majlis Library and we hope this will help strengthen cultural relations between the two countries,” said Ilber Ortayli.
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New Research Library in Harare
Presstv: The Cultural Center of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Zimbabwe has officially opened a new research library in Harare.
The library has been equipped with computers and designed to accommodate forty people at a time.
It also offers thousands of books with a wide range of topics including specialized literature for students of religious and political studies, visual arts, photography, graphic designing and storytelling, Presstv said.
A further donation of thirty thousand dollars was also availed for the expansion of the library, which will improve its capacity to hundred people at a time.
At the official opening of the library, the head of the Iranian Cultural Center in Harare, Mohammad Asadi explained how Islam as a religion encourages education in order to gain knowledge.
“One of the ways that we can exchange our culture and give them education and knowledge is through library,” Asadi added.
“That is why we came to this idea to open this library. The library is free of charge for students.”
Iranian Ambassador to Zimbabwe Mohammad Pournajaf, Zimbabwe’s Deputy Education Minister and several other officials from both countries attended the event’s opening ceremony.
Zimbabwean Deputy Minister of Education Lazarus Dokora highlighted the growing ties between the two nations.
“When you cement this kind of brotherly relations that we have with Iran and you cement them with opening a space such as this, a library; you are laying a cornerstone in the struggle against the imperial West,” he contended.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has also promised to offer scholarships for Zimbabwean students in near future.
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Poetry Festivals Help Discover Talents
Presstv: Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Mohammad Husseini said that one of the priorities of the ministry is paying heed to literature and poetry.
“Holding impressive festivals, including Fajr International Poetry Festival will help discovering talents of young poets,” said the minister.
The 6th Fajr International Poetry Festival will hopefully flourish year by year, Husseini said.
He added that the name of Iran is mingled with poetry and its poets; which gives us a good reason to pay heed to the national art. Accordingly Fajr International Poetry Festival is held with the attendance of national and foreign poets, IBNA reported.
Husseini went on to say that Persian literature is rich and as the Leader believes a thriving future awaits Iran’s poetry and literature.
Poetry is a national treasure which should be used for conveying the Islamic Iranian culture to the young generation and the world in which negative propaganda is being spread against Iran, he added.
The 6th edition of the Fajr International Poetry Festival inaugurated on February 7 in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah and will wrap up on February 20 in Tehran.
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