TEHRAN -- The 13th edition of the Remembering the Kind Friend Festival, an event that aims to promote reading among schoolchildren and presenting books to school libraries, opened at Tehran’s Milad Tower on Monday.

Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati, Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, and large number of teachers and students attended the opening ceremony of the festival, which is annually organized by the Art and Cultural Organization of the Tehran Municipality.

“Public apathy towards reading causes extremely prejudicial damage to society,” Jannati said in a short speech.

“We should find a solution for this problem in our society,” he added.

The festival will be held for over 1,000 schools in Tehran. Schoolchildren can sign up for the festival by selecting three books from among 2,000 publications listed on the festival’s website.

Afterwards, they will begin to get points in 15 categories after reading the books.

Winners will be announced in June. The festival will present ten students grand prizes and 100 other students will receive minor prizes.

“Kind friend” in the title of the festival refers to a poem by contemporary Persian poet Abbas Yamini-Sharif, which calls the book “a kind friend.”

The Shahr Publishing Institute, which is affiliated with the Tehran Municipality, has selected Dey 28 on the Iranian calendar, which is January 28 this year, as Tehran Book Day.

Tehran’s mayor, municipal executives and school teachers visited bookstores in the city as part of the Remembering the Kind Friend Festival.

MMS/YAW
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