One book printed annually for every two Iranian children

An author has criticised the low number of books being printed for Iranian children, saying that for every two children, only one bew book is printed annually. The writer, Mostafa Rahmandust said book reading is not approached professionally in Iran. "Neither is a writer able to earn a living as a writer, nor is a publisher hopeful about the outcomes of his/her work. Also, families are not enthusiastic about the books that are being published," he told Mehr News Agency Some 30 million children live in Iran with 15 million books are published in Iran annually, Rahmandust, who is also the director of the Children's section of the Iran National Library and Archives. "Cultural officials have not carried out their duties properly in the field of children's literature� no progress has been shown in this field over the past few years," he added. The book reading should be encouraged by families and it should then be reinforced by organizations such as the Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, he suggested. In April 2008, then director of the Iran National Library and Archives Ali-Akbar Ash'ari lamented the lack of proper reading facilities and a shortage of the latest publications in Iran's libraries. He said that Iran's per capita book reading rate is two minutes in every 24 hours.