Most of the planning and operational phases of the 28th Tehran International Book fair (TIBF) have been assigned to non-governmental associations, namely the Tehran Publishers and Booksellers Association, said deputy director of the fair, Amir-Masoud Shahramnia on Saturday.
He was addressing local journalists and reporters at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Mosalla (prayer ground) who were invited to visit the venue to see the preparations for the book fair.
He pointed out that it is one of the biggest literary events due to the large number of publishers as well as the huge number of people expected to visit it during the 11-day period.
A total of 130,000 sq. m has been dedicated to this year’s fair which includes the main hall (Shabestan), the newly-built East Hall and tens of tents set up in the open space of the grounds. Shabestan is a massive building, 50,000 m2, comprising a mezzanine overlooking the main floor which can accommodate over 70,000 people. The newly-constructed East Hall, adding 5,000 m2 to the building capacity of the fair, will be host to local publishers, similar to Shabestan.
International, children’s, and academic publishers, like previous years, are to be located in large tents, the construction of which is completed, and registered publishers have been informed about the exact area of their stalls and location. The stalls will be given to the publishers by next week.
“Following the decision made by the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance last year to decrease state intervention in running festivals and exhibitions, almost half the operations have been undertaken by the private sector this year,” Shahramnia noted.
One of the differences in this year’s edition is the reception of books at the fairgrounds itself. The customs office at Imam Khomeini Mosalla directly receives the book shipments, which would quicken the process of delivering the books to the agents of foreign publications.
Pointing to a 20% rise in the number of foreign books at this year’s fair, the official said: “More than 224 tons of books have been received from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, the US, and the UK.”
Culture ministers from Qatar, Bangladesh, and Iraq together with Oman’s information minister and directors of international book fairs from Paris, Moscow, Bologna, and Oman will be among the guests of the TIBF, slated May 6-16.
