TEHRAN – The Iran Book and Literature House is taking part in the New Delhi World Book Fair, which opened Saturday.

Iran is attending the event, which is organized virtually for the first time due to the pandemic, with 70 different award-wining titles, including winners of Iran’s Book of the Year Awards, and winners of Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Awards and a selection of books at the first virtual edition of the Tehran Book Fair. 

A Persian translation of Angelos Koutsourakis’ “The Cinema of Theo Angelopoulos” by Vahid Ruzbehani is one the books, which won the award for best book on dramatic art issues at the 38th Iran’s Book of the Year Awards.

“Myth of Rasta” by Farshad Fereshteh-Hekmat was selected in the best play section. Lucy Soutter’s “Why Art Photography?” translated into Persian by Mohsen Bairamnejad and Ben Long’s “Complete Digital Photography” translated into Persian by Dariush Esmaeili shared the award for best book on photography.

In the Visual Arts section, “Kubacheh Pottery” by Firuz Mahjur and Erwin Panofsky’s “Perspective as Symbolic Form” translated into Persian by Mohammad Sepahi won the award.

In the Literature category, “Mid-Day Incantations” by Mansur Alimoradi was selected as best novel, and the award for best Literary Criticism went to “History of the Body in Literature” by Seyyed Mehdi Zarqani and colleagues.

The award for best Translation was shared by  Maria Nikolajeva’s “Aesthetic Approaches to Children’s Literature: An Introduction” translated into Persian by  Mehdi Hejvani and Fatemeh Zamani, and “An Introduction to Contemporary American Poetry” by Kamran Ahmadgoli and Bahdor Baqeri. 

“Epic of Musayyebnameh” written by Mohammad-Baqai Vars Bukhari and Abu Taher Tarsusi, and translated and corrected by Milad Jafarpur won the award for best old text.

In the Physical Education section, the award was given to the Persian translation of Claude Bouchard’s “Claude Bouchard’s “Molecular and Cellular Regulation of Adaptation to Exercise” translated into Persian by Abbas-Ali Gaini, Javad Tolueiazar and Mohammad Hemmatinafar.

Winners of the Jalal Al-e Ahmad Literary Awards were Fazlollah Saberi’s book “Frequency 1160” and Tayyebeh Pazuki’s “Gem of Patience” which shared the award in the documentation category.

The Iran Book and Literature House has also introduced the best books of children and young adults as well as the top children book writers, in addition to books on Iranian studies. 

A number of online meetings have also been organized on the side section. 

The 29th New Delhi World Book Fair will be running until March 9. The fair has been organized by the National Book Trust in association with the International Trade Organization of India.

Photo: A view of the New Delhi World Book Fair in 2020. (Express/Prerna Mittra)

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