Tehran Book Fair Back to Old Venue

After two stints with Sun City Complex, the 31st Tehran International Book Fair will return to its previous venue at the Imam Khomeini Grand Musalla (prayer grounds).

The two previous editions of TIBF were held in the newly-built Sun City located at the southern end of Tehran. But the upcoming event, slated for May 2-12, 2018, is to be held at the Musalla off Beheshti Street in central Tehran, said Homayoun Amirzadeh, a TIBF official.

Due to its sprawling exhibition space and safe distance from the capital city, organizers and state officials had opted for Sun City as the venue of the annual fair two years ago. But the bitter experience of the visitors and exhibitors showed that that decision was ill-informed and premature. The site still lacks decent and sufficient infrastructure such as a proper drainage system which becomes more critical due to the rainfall in mid-spring.

ISNA quoted Amirzadeh as saying that the east and west wings of Musalla are to be completed before May, so the venue can accommodate visitors more conveniently than in the previous years.

The return of the exhibition to the Musalla should give the Tehran Municipality some more time to better prepare Sun City for future events, Amirzadeh added.