TEHRAN -- Sara Maria Chellini, managing director of Guerra Edizioni, a Perugia-based publisher of materials for learning Italian as a foreign language, has called the Tehran International Book Fair a big chance for Italian publishers.

Chellini and representatives of many Italian publishing companies are attending the fair as their country is the special guest of the event.  

In an interview with the Tehran Times at Italy’s stand, Chellini expressed hope that her company would be admitted to the fair next year, so that they would be able to make a more direct relationship with Iranian publishers.

She also said that she is eager to visit Iran later in person to learn more about Iranian publishing houses.

She said that their publishing firm provides books for many educational centers, including primary schools, secondary schools and universities.

In her visit to the fair, Chellini also plans to assess the new grounds for working in Iran.

“In the past, we had a very good relationship and sent materials to teach the Italian language, and now after long period has elapsed, I am here to see what is the status of Italian language studies here, because I did not know that there were Italian university departments and Italian schools here in Tehran,” she said.

She said that she knows very little about Iran’s publishing industry.

“In fact, I was curious to come here and see the fair. I found out that you have a huge publication industry and I was surprised to see how big this fair is,” she said.

“Normally with the exception of the Frankfurt Book Fair, book fairs are not this big, but I found a lot of items especially for children here and I am really very surprised,” she noted.

She also expressed her interest in cooperating with Iranian publishers because she thinks that the best way for cooperation is working on joint projects.

“Previously in India, we co-published an Italian language book that was very successful, and I think it could be very interesting to manage publishing something here with Iranian publishers,” she said.

“People from the place know exactly what they need, what they can publish and what is better not to publish, and they have a perfect eye on the situation,” she added.

Guerra Edizioni also imports books from other countries to be used at Italian educational centers.

“For example, we brought some authentic books from Japan to Italy, and we would also like to do that with other languages like the Persian language,” she said.

“I would come back to Iran not for the fair but to see the country,” that is the last sentence the kind lady said at the end of her words.

About 30 Italian publishing firms, including Alma Edizioni, Armando Publishing House, Bompiani, Francesco Brioschi Editore and Dami International, are participating in the Tehran International Book Fair, which will run until May 13 at the Shahr-e Aftab Fairground.

RM/YAW