The closing ceremony of the sixth program for selecting and introducing the book capital of Iran and the sixth festival of book-loving villages and nomads of Iran with the presence of Salehi, Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance; Boroujerdi, Head of National Library and Archive of Iran; Mokhtarpour, Secretary General of Iran Public Libraries Foundation; Javadi, Deputy Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, as well as more than 300 activists and promoters of reading from all over the country was held on February 8, 2020, in the conference hall of the National Library. In this ceremony, the city of Shiraz was introduced as the book capital of Iran in 2020 due to the variety of book reading programs and special attention to creative cultural activities.
A city from Tehran province, Rafsanjan and Bam from Kerman province and Oz from Fars province were introduced as creative cities in the field of books.
Previously, the cities of Ahvaz, Nishapur, Bushehr, Kashan, and Yazd had received this title. “47 bases in different parts of the city hold reading programs for the people according to the needs of each region.
Shiraz’s cultural and literary potential has allowed us to take a look at the title of World Book Capital,” Manouchehri, Director General of Public Libraries of Fars Province, said on the sidelines of the ceremony, referring to the plans Shiraz has to win the title of World Book Capital. It is worth mentioning that the book capital of Iran is the title of a project in Iran, based on which a city is annually selected as the book capital of Iran.
Some parts of this project have been modeled on the world book capital program, but in terms of executive structure, it is very compatible with the cultural conditions in Iran.
Holding the event of Iran’s book capital has been following a number of aims including increasing cooperation and participation of various governmental and non-governmental institutions in the field of books, attracting existing investments in the private sector, culturalizing the industrial and economic sectors, indirectly promoting futurism and planning in the field of culture, supporting new and innovative ideas in the field of books, emphasizing the cultural programs and cultural justice, promoting book reading, designing attractive and popular programs in the field of books as well as promoting the position of cultural directors in cities.
