Ebrahim Heidari
Director-General of Cultural Studies and Book Reading Office, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance & Secretary of book-loving towns and villages Steering Committee
Since the inception of the 11th government of Islamic Republic of Iran, the Cultural Affairs Deputy of Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance in cooperation with a number of governmental and non-governmental entities and organizations started to devise and implement a set of book-reading promotion initiatives in order to achieve cultural justice development especially across less-developed areas, villages and remote cities, to decentralize, to realize sustainable cultural and social development, and also to provide various walks of life with subsides of publishing area.
The most important book-reading promotion programs are choosing and introducing the book capital of Iran, holding book-friendly villages and nomads festivals, holding festivals to appreciate book-reading promoters and holding book-reading clubs cup for children and young-adults. The joint steering committee consisting of governmental, non-governmental and popular organizations was established to coordinate among book-friendly cities and villages, book-friendly cities network, book-friendly villages network, book-reading promoters networks. The committee acts according to the statute and based on certain purposes such as book-reading promotion and enhancing the synergy between various organizations as the executive arms and planning for books areas since 2018.
Using national, religious and regional capacities and attracting people and various industries’ contributions in villages, cities and geographical areas to implement book-reading plans, to develop unity and coherence in national and regional levels, to design and implement cultural and book-reading plans, which have brought about coherence and sympathy to implement economic programs in many areas, are among other achievements.
Such synergy among public and private organizations and institutes to implement cultural programs on books field, strengthening infrastructures of publishing industry, especially bookstores, libraries across various cities and villages of the country, intensifying the relationship between writers and urban and rural audiences are other realized purposes of these projects.
