TEHRAN- The Children’s Book Council of Iran has revealed the country's candidate for the 2026 IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award.

Ali-Asghar Seyyedabadi, an Iranian advocate for reading and a researcher in children’s literature, has been nominated for this esteemed honor, IRNA reported on Friday. 

The IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award is presented at the IBBY Congress, which will be held from July 5 to 9, 2026 in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Seyyedabadi is a writer, reading promoter, and researcher in children's and young adult literature. Throughout his more than 35 years of work, in any position and with any title, he has always pursued reading as a social action and activity. He has strived to promote libraries as safe havens and voluntary reading as a means of resilience and resistance, especially in challenging social conditions.

The first book by Seyyedabadi for children was published in 1996. In the following years, he regularly focused on writing for children and young adults, and today about 70 books have been published by him. Some of his books are about theoretical topics in children's and young adult literature.

He transformed his individual activities in promoting reading into institutional and group activities about 20 years ago, which led to the establishment of some reading promotion institutions in Iran. He also implemented ambitious projects that had a significant impact on the expansion of reading throughout Iran.

In 2014, he started innovative initiatives to promote reading throughout Iran, which resulted in the formation of large-scale reading promotion movements involving non-governmental and civil institutions, government agencies, and public institutions in cities and villages across Iran. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these initiatives became one of the effective networks connecting children, young adults, and book promoters.

These activities engaged 180 cities and 1,400 villages in Iran, leading to the establishment of over 17,000 reading clubs in cities and villages, and 40,000 reading clubs in preschools throughout Iran.

The Children’s Book Council of Iran has previously nominated Seyyedabadi for the 2024 IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award.
 
The IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award has been established by the Shenzhen iRead Foundation and IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) to encourage a real commitment to the cause of reading promotion in the hope of spreading this dedication to others around the globe.

The IBBY-iRead Award jury selects two winners every year. The two winners each receive 200,000 RMB Yuan and, in addition, 150,000 RMB Yuan is given to a non-profit children’s reading promotion project of their choice.

Swedish-Dutch author Marit Törnqvist and Chinese educator Zhu Yongxin won the 2020 IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award. The two winners of the 2024 IBBY-iRead Outstanding Reading Promoter Award were Basarat Kazim from Pakistan, nominated by IBBY Pakistan, and Irene Vasco from Colombia, nominated by IBBY Canada. 

The IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award is given biennially to one group or institution whose outstanding activities are judged to be making a lasting contribution to reading promotion programs for children and young people. The Award was established in 1986 and is sponsored by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

The prize of $10,000 and a diploma are presented to the winning project at the biennial IBBY Congress.

SAB/