Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, visited the 34th International Book Fair at Tehran’s Mosalla on Sunday morning for three hours.
On this visit, the Supreme Leader, accompanied by the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, was informed of the latest publications and books presented at the exhibition and talked to booth owners and publishers.
At the end of his visit to the International Book Fair, Ayatollah Khamenei described the book fair as a great cultural event with a dominant public aspect in an interview with the reporter of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) news agency, expressing his great satisfaction with this visit and added: With the help of Allah, sparks of good news and youthful positive motivations can be seen at the book fair.
The Supreme Leader added: people’s reception of the book fair has been very good based on the presented statistics and the number of books purchased.
Ayatollah Khamenei considered the issue of book publishing in the country, despite some unfavourable conditions, as progressive and pointed out that the main unfavourable conditions in the publishing field are related to the high cost of paper and, in some cases, the low quality of the paper. Of course, the honourable Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance gave good news about the beginning of the production of quality paper, which we hope will lead to a decrease in high book prices.
He emphasized: publishing is an integral part of reading books in the country, and its affairs should be smooth, excellent and widespread.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution said: Despite the problems in the publishing industry, the number of published book titles is high, but the number of copies printed is relatively low.
Ayatollah Khamenei considered books a critical subject and emphasized that the country always needs cultural development, and despite the expansion of cyberspace, books remain highly valued.
He believed that producing good artistic and media works requires reading books and studying, and said: I always recommend people, especially young people, to read books, but today I have a particular emphasis on the need for reading and studying for media creators, activists in the arts and performance arts fields, and journalists.
Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khamenei, referring to the high share of domestic books in the country’s publications, also pointed out the issue of translating domestically written books: The translation of books written domestically should be taken seriously. Of course, translators who are true experts should be used for translating these books.
Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized the issue of children’s and teenagers’ books in another part of this interview and said: We should strive to produce children’s and Teenagers’ books that align with our culture as much as possible; so that we can become independent of foreign books.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution also mentioned his interest and spending time reading various books, especially memoirs related to the Holy Defence era and shrine defenders. These memoirs are precious books and are considered a new genre of book production in which female writers are very active and have good writing.
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution also referred to his interest and time spent studying various books, especially memoirs related to the Holy Defence era and the martyrs of the shrine defenders, stating: These memoirs are very valuable and are a new type of book production, in which female writers are very active and have good writings.