Culture ministry plans to promote book reading

The Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance for Cultural Affairs Bahman Dorri said that the ministry will set up a working group to boost the book reading rate among Iranians. During a meeting with a number of Iranian librarians and library directors on last Wednesday, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei criticized Iranian librarians for Iran’s low per capita book reading rate. Dorri said that the ministry has plans for regional, expert and seasonal book fairs to boost a culture of book reading among the people. Introducing books by the society’s luminaries is one out of many ways to encourage the younger generation to read books, he added. He said that we have a long way to go to achieve measurable results in this field however, the ministry plans to pave the way to attract people of different ages to read books. In April 2008, former director of the Iran National Library and Archives Ali-Akbar Ash’ari announced that Iran’s per capita book reading rate is two minutes in every 24 hours. Ash’ari was censured for his remarks by some Iranian officials. Afterwards, they began to cite higher numbers for Iran’s per capita book reading rate