Here are the latest cultural headlines in the media.

Tehran to host conference of Muslim publishers

Tehran Times: Tehran will be hosting the first International Conference of Islamic World Publishers from June 20 to 21.

The event is being organized to activate the hidden potential of the publishers of the Islamic world, conference secretary Ali Zarei Najafdari said.

“Of course, we have noticed the collaboration among the world’s publishers, especially their cooperation at international book fairs like the Frankfurt fair. Publishers in Europe and the Asia/Pacific region are cooperating with one another in some manner, but publishers of the Islamic world lack this coordination. They are not very well known in the publishing world, and this is because they are not well organized,” Najafdari stated.

This lack of coordination undermines the cultural, political, and social potential of the publishers, he noted.

And in the modern world, where major publishing houses run the industry, smaller publishers that do not collaborate are unable to find a niche in the international market, he added.

“I think publishers of the Islamic world have two major problems. The first is that they do not familiarize themselves with the cultural needs of their societies before they publish books, so the books they put on the market do not sell well. The other one is improper distribution. Books are not distributed well, both inside and outside (each) country,” he explained.

In some Islamic countries, even domestic publishers do not interact very much, he pointed out.

They even regard each other as rivals and try to put competitors out of business, he stated.

So it was decided to hold a gathering of Muslim publishers in order to organize them, he said.

“I believe the first step (that should be taken) is that Islamic publishers should try to become familiar with one another so they can increase their collaboration. We are holding this conference to help the publishers of the Islamic world get acquainted,” he stated.

Muslim publishers from Islamic and non-Muslim countries have been invited to the conference, he added.

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Iranian Academic Rendering Diderot’s Oeuvre Into Persian

Iran News: Morteza Kalantarian is translating books penned by the 18th century French philosopher, art critic, and writer Denis Diderot.

“I have been working on Diderot’s writings for one year. I don’t know whether his works have been translated into Persian or not but I believe that he is a very influential author who has been neglected in Iran,” Kalantarian told the Persian service of ISNA.

He went on to say that his work will be released by the Agah Publications after completion of the translation.

“I decided to categorize works by Diderot into fiction and philosophy, although his fiction connotes philosophical points,” he mentioned.

He has a complicated philosophical prose style which makes translation of his works difficult, he mentioned.

Among Diderot’s writings, he has translated “The Nun”, “Rameau’s Nephew” and “Jacques the Fatalist”.

Diderot (1713–1784) was a prominent figure during the Enlightenment and is best known for serving as chief editor of and contributor to the creation of the Encyclopedia.

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Book on Isfahan Published

Iran Daily: Iran’s Ahoura Publications has recently released a book about the historical city of Isfahan, adorned with eye-catching pictures and illustrations.

‘Isfahan: The Heritage of Ahoura’ provides an anthology of Iran’s Isfahan province in both Persian and English and explores its magnificent architecture and traditional arts and crafts, Presstv said.

The book is written by Mohammad-Reza Riyazi and translated into English by Ismail Salami whose ‘Isfahan Pearl of the World’ offered a new perspective into the most beautiful city built during the Safavid era.

The hardback is adorned by veteran Iranian calligrapher Esrafil Shirchi and features photos by renowned photographer Davoud Vakilzadeh, whose stunning pictures have appeared in numerous Iranalogy books.
The central Iranian city of Isfahan, once the Persian capital, has many historical and cultural attractions including Zoroastrian fire temples and Armenian churches.

The city has not only been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage, but has also been chosen as the cultural capital of the world of Islam.

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Prison Memoir Wins 2010 Eric Hoffer Book Award

Iran Daily: The Eric Hoffer Book Award has named ‘Mother California: A Story of Redemption Behind Bars’ by Kenneth E. Hartman the 2010 winner in the memoir category.

In this memoir, a magnificent inquiry into the human condition, a man serving a life sentence in the California prison system documents the brutality and inhumanity of life ‘inside,’ where criminals are victimized rather than rehabilitated, and chaos flowers among the despairing, pr.com reported.

Hartman, an eloquent, middle-aged prisoner convicted of murder at 19, tells a sad but unsentimental story; a rough childhood and a wish for invincibility fueled Hartman’s youth and downfall, but in the time since, he has married in prison, fathered a child, and currently works to improve the broken US prison system.

Hartman discovered his talent in a writing class, after having abandoned drugs. He examines up close the ‘mad, violent circus’ of prison life, his place in it, and the fate of his fellow prisoners “Under the big tend of this brutally unnatural environment”.

“I’m tremendously honored to win this award. I hope that more people will have the opportunity to understand the truth of our prison systems, and come to the necessary realization that reform is desperately needed,” Hartman said.
The Eric Hoffer Project, which facilitates this annual award, is a volunteer organization dedicated to preserving the memory of the great American philosopher Eric Hoffer through helping independent writers, authors, and presses.
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Iran to publish nobles' encyclopedia

Presstv: Iran is to publish an encyclopedia in France introducing Iranian nobles who have left major traces in the country's history of science and culture.

The encyclopedia will introduce 600 Iranian figures who have had a role in forming the country's identity.

Iran's cultural attache in Paris, who initiated the project, underlined the restoration of Iranian identity as the main motivation to kick off the project.

The book will be the first reference of its kind to be published in France, and can serve as a serious defender of Iranian civilization in Europe.

The Iranian cultural attache in Paris has been selected among the most active edifying attaches in France by the country's Ministry of Culture and Communication.

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Nobel laureate Saramago dead at 87

Presstv: Jose Saramago, a Portuguese winner of the Nobel Prize for literature who supported communism, has died at the age of 87 in the Canary Island of Lanzarote.

"The writer died in the company of his family, saying goodbye in a serene and placid way," the Associated Press quoted the Jose Saramago Foundation as saying.

The foundation said Saramago, who had been hospitalized several times recently, died because of multi-organ failure after a long illness.

Saramago left his home country over a spat with the government that had refused to allow one of his novels to compete for a European literary prize in 1992.

Despite being a Nobel laureate, he was not popular at home for his support for Communism.

During the 2006 Lebanon War, he signed a statement together with several other prominent figures, including Noam Chomsky, condemning what they characterized as "a long-term military, economic and geographic practice whose political aim is nothing less than the liquidation of the Palestinian nation".

His major novels include "Blindness" published in 1995; "Essay on Lucidity", 2004; and "The Intermittency of Death", 2005.

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