Statements in an Interview with IRIB During the Visit to the 35th Tehran International Book Fair

Journalist: In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. I extend my greetings and respect to you and I am pleased to have the opportunity to meet you again and visit you in this place, which is filled with a desire for increasing knowledge, awareness, and elevation. If you permit, I would like to ask a few questions regarding the topic of books, the Tehran International Book Fair, and of course, the culture of reading. My first question is about the philosophy behind your continuous and almost annual visits to the International Book Fair, which are truly conducted with precision, delicacy, and attention to details; this was clearly evident during your journey here. Your attention to the latest published titles and various authors indicates that you have a serious and sufficient interest in the subject of books, and this visit is not merely symbolic. What message does this presence convey to society, to those active in the field of books, and to the officials in the printing and publishing sector?

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. What you should ask me is not the message of this action, but my motivations. The primary motivation is a personal desire for books and a love for books and familiarity with books. The second stage is the promotion of books. I wish for reading to become more widespread because I believe we are in need of books; all individuals across various sectors, age groups, and educational levels need to read books, and nothing can truly replace books. I want reading to become more prevalent. Today, other occupations, such as the virtual space and similar things, have taken the place of reading books; this is not a correct movement. It is not that one should not refer to the virtual space or read newspapers; yes, but these should not replace books. Books must have a specific place, both in the people's livelihood basket and in their purchasing habits, as well as in their allocation of time; they should read a bit of books every day. I want this to be promoted, and my coming here may be effective in this regard; this is another motivation.

Journalist: Incidentally, the point you mentioned is the focus of my second question. You see, books are referred to as "the kind companion," and this kind companion must always be attended to. As you mentioned, the virtual space has attractions for all members of society, especially for adolescents and youth, and this concern for promoting the culture of reading and studying books is a serious one. Now, you mentioned part of the people, but please share your recommendations for the officials and activists in this field for promoting the culture of reading.

Government officials, such as the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance or the Islamic Propagation Organization and similar entities, must assist those who are active in the publishing and production of books. We need to provide assistance to them. Of course, this year when I visited these book centers and inquired, it became clear that assistance is being provided by officials to all or some publishers. Assistance must be given; this is the first task.

Those active in the virtual space should also use the virtual space to promote books; that is, this is truly one of the duties of those who are active in the virtual space, to make it one of their tasks to encourage people to read books and introduce good books. We have many useful books in various fields, whether in literature, history, art, scientific books, or religious books. This year, when I look, I see that the new productions and publications, thanks be to God, are not few in the collection I have seen; they should be introduced so that people know which books to refer to and what to read.

Journalist: And my final question is that considering that by this point and at this moment you have visited almost half of the exhibition and, God willing, you will visit the rest of the exhibition by the next hour, what specific point has caught your attention at this year's International Book Fair?

What was interesting to me were two or three points: one was the increase in new works; most of the institutions I visited had noteworthy new works that they presented or reported. The second was the issue of sales; I often ask how sales are, and they generally say it is good; that is, of those I asked, almost all or most said their sales are very good and people are visiting.

Another point is the issue of print runs; well, print runs had significantly declined, but I saw that they say three thousand, two thousand, two thousand five hundred, and in very heavy books, a thousand copies; this amount is good for some books. And likewise, reprints; books that have been repeatedly reprinted. I saw these in the institutions we visited; these are good; these are, thanks be to God, good news this year.

However, more than anything, our recommendation is to those who deal with the youth and adolescents, namely the education system and universities; they must create the conditions for reading among adolescents and youth and provide good books for them. Of course, families have their own responsibilities that they must fulfill, but the institutions that are specifically active regarding youth and adolescents must feel responsible and create the conditions for youth reading; young people really need to read books. Both literature, history, heritage, and the introduction of personalities; these are things that we genuinely have a gap in. Likewise, the explanation of various events and incidents; for example, we currently have very few books about the Constitutional Revolution from the past. The true and correct perspective on what happened as the Constitutional Revolution in the country must be properly elucidated; we have few or no readable books in this area. These are tasks that we must undertake. There are many other events like the Constitutional Revolution; we have written too little about the Sacred Defense, and whatever we say is too little; there is a lot of room. We have little about the Revolution itself, and the same goes for Imam Khomeini (may his soul be sanctified). Imam Khomeini is a unique and outstanding personality in history; how many books have we written about Imam Khomeini? What have we written? These are very important. These tasks must be accomplished. The production of books is very important, which is primarily the responsibility of the Ministry of Culture and the propaganda agencies and the artistic field and similar entities, but the promotion of books is the responsibility of the education system and universities and similar institutions. God willing, may you be successful.

Journalist: Thank you very much; I appreciate you dedicating your time to this conversation.