Participated by Iran’s booth the 28th New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF) was held on January 4 to 14 2020. Mohsen Javadi, Iranian Deputy of Culture Minister for Cultural Affairs, Niknam Hosseini-pour, the head of Iran’s Book House Institute, and Mohammad-Ali Rabbani Iran’s cultural attaché in India were Iran’s representatives in the inaugural ceremony of this event. Some of Iranian booth’s programs in this fair were as follows: showcasing 450 title books, introducing plans designed to support translation and publishing Iranian books in the international markets, introducing publishing industry and the related centers in Iran, introducing Tehran International Book Fair and inviting foreign publishers to take part in this fair. On the sidelines of this fair, the Iranian delegation visited the head of India’s National Book Institute and Director of New Delhi World Book Fair and a group of Indian publishers. Javadi said, “I invite the Indian Publishers to participate in Tehran International Fair and present their books for sales. We are ready to start cooperation with the Indian writers and publishers in various areas related to books.” The Iranian delegation also visited Noor International Microfilm Center in India. According to directors of this center identifying, safeguarding and protecting Islamic-Iranian written heritage in India, launching the international network of information dissemination about manuscripts, facilitating accessibility to information and manuscripts for researchers, promoting research and study tasks with the aim of recovering the written legacy, making relations with the orientalism centers and libraries, holding meetings and specialized coursed on research, repair codicology, cataloguing manuscripts and oriental documents, publishing precious and rare copies, supporting research projects related to the joint heritage of Iran and India are amongst the purposes of this center. Also, in his meeting with the Indian writers and poets, Niknam Hosseini-pour, the head of Iran’s Book House Institute, said, “Producing books and transferring knowledge to each other is one of our key duties to keep this joint heritage.” Within past 40 years, more than 1500 books on India, Indiology, Indian philosophy, and Indian poem have been printed and published in Iran. And in the most authenticate book award of Iran, Iran’s Book of the Year Awards, five books on Hinduism and Islamic mystic, Shiism in India, linguistics and Indo-European languages, Persian language and Indian style poem have been selected.
Hosseini-pour said that Iran’s Book House Institute is tasked with producing book databanks and Iran is ready to produce and publish the mutual databank of Iran and India in order to protect this cultural heritage.
