TEHRAN – The 34th edition of the Tehran International Book Fair has announced that Tajikistan is the guest of honor of Iran’s major trade fair for books.

The Tajikistan culture minister and a large number of the country’s cultural figures and writers will attend the book fair, Iran’s Deputy Culture Minister for Cultural Affairs, Yaser Ahmadvand, told the Persian service of ISNA on Sunday.

He said that a memorandum of understanding is scheduled to be signed by the culture ministers of Iran and Tajikistan during the book fair.

Ahmadvand expressed his hope that the choice would help improve the book trade between Iran and Tajikistan.

Last October, a large cultural delegation led by the Tajik Culture Minister, Zulfiya Davlatzoda, visited Tehran to attend a Tajik cultural festival held at the Abbasabad Cultural Complex in the Iranian capital.

In her sojourn in Tehran, Davlatzoda joined her Iranian counterpart, Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili, signing a memorandum of understanding to expand cultural relations.

As part of the cultural festival, artists from the country also visited the Iranian cities of Shiraz and Tabriz to showcase collections of handicrafts and introduce aspects of their cultural heritage to the Iranian people.

In November, Esmaeili led a cultural delegation on a reciprocal visit to Tajikistan for the opening of a weeklong Iranian cultural festival in Dushanbe.

Over 50 Iranian painters, calligraphers, storytellers, musicians and artists from other fields attended the cultural festival, holding workshops, exhibitions and performances.  

2023 Tehran Intl. Book Fair: “The Future Is Readable”

The Tehran International Book Fair will take place at Imam Khomeini Mosalla from May 10 to 20.

Over 3000 foreign and Iranian publishing houses and over 200 major Iranian bookstores have applied to participate in the fair, the fair’s deputy spokesman, Ali Ramezani, said in a press release published on Sunday. 

He said that different committees, publishers and bookstores have taken measures designed to organize an “amazing fair.” 

“The Future Is Readable” is the motto of this year’s book fair.

In a call published on his Twitter account in early April, Ahmadvand asked Iranian people to suggest slogans for this year’s book fair.

The motto has been selected from 40 slogans shortlisted from a large number of submissions.

Photo: A combination photo shows the flags of Tajikistan and Iran.

MMS/YAW