TEHRAN -- The 34th edition of the annual
Tehran International Book Fair is underway here, bringing together thousands of Iranian and foreign publishers.
The widely-popular book fair — known to be the largest cultural event in the Middle East — officially opened on Wednesday and will run until May 20, with the motto of ‘The Future Is Readable.”
Turkish Ambassador to Tehran Hicabi Kirlangic said that the Tehran International Book Fair is comparable with prominent book fairs in Frankfurt and Cairo.
Kirlangic said the Iranian book fair is a big one, noting that he made speeches at the book fair.
Kirlangic, who has also translated the Divan of Hafez, the poems written by prominent Iranian poet Hafez Shirazi (1325–1390), also noted that the book fair was held in other places in past years, but it is now being held at Imam Khomeini Mosque, which is appreciable.
The ambassador pointed to the translation project of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Turkiye, noting that the international project helps introduce Turkish authors in Iran.
The 34th Tehran International Book Fair is underway in the Iranian capital from 20 to 30 May 2023. It is also being held online at the address https://ketab.ir/.
Recai Duman, the director of Turkish Diyanet Publishing, said the book fair provides a great opportunity to establish ‎communication with Iranian publishers.‎
‎The venue, he said, is one of ‎the largest book exhibitions he has ever seen in comparison to other countries.
“Everything is well-‎organized in this exhibition, and there is a great cultural atmosphere in the book fair environment.
“Establishing numerous stands from publishers of different countries paves the way for interactions between ‎publishers from different countries, which is considered a significant cultural event among countries. ‎As we are in the early days of the 34th Tehran Book Fair, we are delighted that we have received an ‎unprecedented response from people for the Diyanet Publishing. This motivates us to ‎participate in such cultural events held by Iran and Turkey in the coming years,”‎ he said.
According to Duman, Diyanet Publishing has over 40 bookstores throughout Turkey, each containing ‎between 10,000 to 15,000 books.
“Our priority remains the ‎promotion of religious issues... Due to the religious affiliations we ‎have with Iran, we are interested in having more interactions with Iranian publishers regarding ‎religious issues,” he said.
Diyant Publishing has released 1,500 books and presented 200 titles at this year’s ‎Tehran Book Fair.‎