Annually, ten nomadic villages are nominated as book- friendly villages due to their activities and programs. The sixth recall of this festival has been announced. The “Book-Friendly Village and Nomads Festival” is a program run each year under the supervision of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry and in the collaboration with a range of governmental and non-governmental organizations. Accordingly, every year ten nomadic villages or villages are nominated as book-friendly villages and nomads. To participate in the festival, the villages must introduce the specific cultural and social characteristics of the village, and their activities, plans and executive programs to strengthen the book reading substructure and promote the book reading in the village. The festival aims to support the actions taken in the villages and innovative suggestions in the field of book-reading in the villages and to introduce cultural and promotional activities related to book-reading carried out by the people and institutions active in the village or anticipated for the coming year. Other goals and objectives are to allocate funds for expanding book and book-reading activities in villages and draw people’s attention to the importance of books, make the rural environment more cultural and fill children and adolescents’ leisure time with book. Thus, in collaboration with a number of governmental and non-governmental agencies in each province, a secretariat has been established to direct the festival in the province. Each village, according to the festival recall, should submit its documentation related to their book-reading activities in that village with the signature of the village assistant and the head of Islamic village council, along with the completed forms to the provincial secretariat of the festival based in the provincial headquarters of Islamic Culture and Guidance Ministry or the central secretariat in Tehran. Village assistants, the Village Islamic Council, regional governors, mosques’ cultural-art centers, schools, and other cultural institutions and popular organizations play an important role in introducing book-friendly villages. In the first festival, 620 villages participated, which increased to 800 villages in the second year. After several stages of judging and evaluating the activities and programs in these villages, 20 villages were nominated and in the final judgment, 10 villages were nominated as Iran’s Book-Friendly Village.
