Reza Bardestani, the ex-director of the permanent secretariat of Mehdi Azar Yazdi Foundation, believes that the criticisms made on Iran's Public Culture Council on choosing the death anniversary of Mehdi Azar Yazdi as Children's literature day is baseless.

IBNA: Iran's Public Culture Council announced that July 8 has been named as the Day of Children and Adolescent's Literature on the occasion of the death anniversary of Mehdi Azar Yazdi, the late author of children's books. The news lead to different reactions as some authors lamented that nobody asked their opinion in the matter.

Accordingly Reza Bardestani, the ex-director of the permanent secretariat of Mehdi Azar Yazdi Foundation told IBNA that the naming was suggested by the author's foundation. Talking about the expectations of the authors of children's books for choosing such a day he added:" Some writers like to respond with reactions. I read several interviews in the newspapers about choosing the National Day of Children and Adolescent's Literature, however except Mostafa Rahmandoost, the other figures failed to have a special place in children's literature and their statement about such a day wasn’t reasonable."

He added: The authors of children's books unanimously believe that Azar Yazdi was the founder of children's literature. I think that a person shouldn’t think he is an influential figure in the children's literature since he has worked in a short period of time in one of the related fields.

He then emphasized on the activities of Azar Yazdi's foundation on registering the death anniversary of Mehdi Azar Yazdi as the Day of Children's Literature in Iran's calendar saying: "Certainly Iran's Public Culture Council didn’t accept the foundation's suggestion without evaluating it."

Such a day didn’t exist in our calendar he said and added:" Every year we used to wait for April 2, the International Children's Book Day, but now if a foreigner goes through the Iranian calendar, he will certainly praise our culture. The Day can be a great start for great events in children's literature."

The ex-director of the permanent secretariat of Mehdi Azar Yazdi Foundation said that when Azar Yazdi passed away, we corresponded with all the authors of children's books and all the facilities were provided for them to travel to Yazd in order to attend his commemoration however only 12-13 attendees showed up.

Azar Yazdi passed away on July 9, 2009. His “Good Stories for Good Children”, which won a UNESCO prize in 1966 and was selected as Iran’s best book of the year in 1967, remains a hot pick among children’s books in Iran.

Born in 1921, Azar Yazdi began writing for children in 1956. He wrote seven books, each of which is adapted from a classic of Persian literature and rewritten for children in an easy-to-understand style.

He was also author of “The Naughty Cat,” “The Playful Cat,” “Simple Stories,” “Poetry of Sugar and Honey” and “Masnavi of Good Children.” His “Adam” was chosen as Iran’s book of the year in 1968.

Id : 141841