TEHRAN – The 30th Tehran International Book Fair opened on Tuesday with a message from Sergio Mattarella, the president of Italy as the event’s guest of honor.

The message was read by the undersecretary of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism, Antimo Cesaro, during the opening ceremony of the fair at the Shahr-e Aftab Fairground.

In his message, Mattarella said that he feels honored that his country is the special guest of the cultural event. 

A group of 32 Italian cultural figures and writers are attending the Tehran International Book Fair, which is Iran’s most important event in the publishing industry.

Cesaro also conveyed a message from Italian minister of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism Dario Franceschini.

He said that choice of Italy as the special guest of the Tehran book fair will be a turning point in the history of cultural cooperation between the two countries.

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani and Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Reza Salehi-Amiri were also among the multitude of Iranian officials who were in attendance at the opening ceremony.

Larijani and Salehi-Amiri also delivered speeches as well as unveiled a postage stamp to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the book fair.

In his speech, Larijani said that Tehran book fair has been held in the country for the past years under any circumstances and this indicates the interest of Iranians in critical thinking.

He also expressed his thanks to the Italian officials over their active participation in the event and said, “This cultural event shows Iranian interest in learning, and paying due attention to wisdom is highly recommended in Islamic thought.”

Italian Ambassador Mauro Conciatori (4th L), his colleagues and a number of Iranian cultural officials visit the 30th Tehran International Book Fair during the opening day on May 2, 2017. (Mehr/Asghar Khamseh)

Salehi-Amiri said that the culture ministry is planning to entrust the task of organizing the Tehran International Book Fair to the publishers in the future.

“We can imagine handing out the key of the fair to the publishers in the near future so that in the next edition of the fair, the officials would be the guests and the publishers the host of the fair,” he added.

“To achieve such a goal we need to look to the future. We should find out how our libraries, our publications and the technology are run and we intend for the non-governmental organizations active in producing, distributing and selling books to take the helm of the exhibit,” he remarked.

“The increasing number of book publications indicates the growing change in Iran’s publication industry. The fair needs to change into a venue to offer new innovations and pave the way for more participation by Iranian publishers in the international arena,” he remarked.

Honoring the best publishers of the year was part of the opening ceremony.

In the private publications category, Mizan Publications was honored as the best publisher for adults, Qadyani Publications was honored as the best for children, and Darolhadith Publications was honored as the best in the city of Qom.

In the non-private publications category, the best adult’s publisher was Sure-Mehr Publications, and the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) was honored as the best children’s publisher, and the two Jamal and Boraq publications shared the best award.

RM/MMS/YAW