Amir Masoud Shahramnia, manager of Iran's national pavilion at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2016 (October 19-23) in Germany, said he was confident that the variety of programs prepared for the event "will make our participation significant."
Shahramnia, also the CEO of Iran Cultural Fairs Institute (ICFI) said, "Iran's pavilion in the Adult Section is 200 sq meters and adjacent to Turkey's pavilion." The space for children and young adults is 36 sq meters, he told Mehr News Agency.
As in the previous years, the ICFI interacts with the organizers of the Frankfurt Book Fair on behalf of Iranian publishers for preparing the pavilion. The programs, planned for the event will be designed in cooperation with the publishers and publishing associations.
"So far, nearly 16 domestic publishers have expressed willingness to participate. Of this number, six or seven will participate in the children's section."
Tehran Publishers and Booksellers Association, Islamic Revolution Publishers Forum, Sacred Defense Publishers Society, Women Publishers Cultural Society and the Iranian Association of Academic Publishers have announced readiness to participate in the Iran pavilion.
"We will also support the presence of some Iranian writers at the fair," he said. Children's author Farhad Hassanzadeh, 53, and novel writer Davoud Ghaffarzadegan, 56, have been invited, and will be sponsored by the ICFI.
"Other Iranian writers such as screen writer, critic and journalist Naghmeh Samini and writer Saeed Ramezani will also be present and we have planned some programs in which they will participate."
Shahramnia expressed regret that no literary agency from Iran would participate in the high-profile annual event.
"The work of domestic literary agencies is not of very high quality. We in fact have no literary agency of practical use." Ghazal Literary Agency cooperated with the ICFI at the previous edition of the fair, "but the agency's activities are now limited."
A literary agent (often synonymous with "publishing agent") represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers and film studios, and assists in the negotiation of sale deals.
