Tehran-The 36th Tehran International Book Fair (TIBF) opened on Wednesday in Imam Khomeini Mosala, Tehran, on Wednesday, with the Minister of Culture and Islamic leadership holding Abbas Salehi.
“If development, a bright future, Iranian progress is needed, and if we want to stop our enemies, we must think more and more about the book and strive to expand this great culture of Iranian power,” the minister said at the opening ceremony.
According to him, the book plays an important role in ancient Iran and in Islamic civilizations. “An Islamic civilization was formed and progressed to the wings of mosques and libraries,” he added.
Salehi emphasized that if “shaname” was not created after Iranian Islam, Persian would not remain intact. “If civilizations emerge and want to endure, it requires a book, which represents consistent thinking, regardless of its form.
“The book concerns must be a concern for everyone who thinks about Iran’s social development. This should not be a concern of the culture, the author or the publishing community. If appropriate social development is needed, good books should be produced and consumed,” added Salehi.
After the opening ceremony, Salehi visited the Iraqi Pavilion, a special guest of this edition of the fair, to meet the Iraqi Republic’s Culture, Tourism and Ancient Minister Ahmed Whakak al-Bhadrani.
During the visit, Salehi gave a speech, saying: “The exhibition offers a unique opportunity to be familiar with the latest national and international publishing achievements each year, and this year we have a special guest from Al-Badrani.
“Books and culture have always been a bridge between nations, and today, at this exhibition, we witness the close bond between Iran and Iraqi people,” he added.
“From rich Persian literature to exquisite Arabic literature, and from ancient historical works to modern thinking, we witness here the incredible diversity of human intelligence, all speaking a universal language.
“As Iranian cultural authorities, we have always strived to provide the necessary foundation for the development of cultural cooperation and international publishing. We hope that the exhibition will strengthen these cultural relations and take a major step towards expanding science and culture,” Salech argued.
Iraq participated in the event with 15 publishers. Among them, one publisher belongs to the Iraqi Ministerial Conference, and the other 14 are members of the Iraqi Publishers Association.
More than 2,600 Iranian publishers attend the fair. Additionally, 50 applicants from other countries have registered. Their books will be exhibited primarily in the Arabic and Latin sections of exhibitions published between 2023 and 2025.
Foreign publishers have come from countries such as Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Algeria, Brazil, China, Egypt, Hungary, India, Iraq, Italy, Malaysia, Russia, Spain, Syria, and Turkey.
The 36th TIBF will run at Imam Khomeinimosala, Tehran until May 17th. “Read for Iran” was chosen as the slogan for the upcoming edition of the Book Fair.
Photo: Seyyed Abbas Salehi (R) and Ahmed Fakak Al-Badrani (2nd L) will be holding the tournament at the 36th Tehran International Book Fair, held at Imam Khomeini Mosala, Tehran on May 7, 2025.
SS/SAB