The 13th edition of ‘Memoir of a Kind Friend’ opened on January 18 at Tehran’s Milad Tower.
The festival, which earlier focused on equipping school libraries, is now being held in a new framework aimed to promote reading culture among schoolchildren, Mehr News Agency reported.
Organized by the Tehran Municipality, it presents 2,000 books for sale, selected from among 21,000 volumes offered by publishing houses throughout the country. In addition, 2,400 school teachers are scheduled to visit bookstores in the city as part of the festival, said its director and head of Shahr Publishing Institute, Seyed Majid Hosseini.
Schoolchildren can sign up for the festival by selecting three books. Participants can get points by reading books and getting involved in peripheral activities such as summarizing stories and donating them to school libraries.
Students with the highest points will be awarded by the Tehran Municipality at the closing ceremony. January 18 is marked as Tehran Book Day by the Shahr Publishing Institute, which is affiliated to the municipality.
The festival will wrap up on May 20, which marks the end of the school academic year in Iran.
