The first Tehran Virtual Book Fair provided a great opportunity for the economy of the publishing industry, said Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Abbas Salehi.
He added that at this cultural event, 100,000 titles of domestic books were presented and 854,000 items were posted nationwide.
“In the physical exhibition, we always had a problem with space, and in the last exhibition, about 800 publishers were present, but in the Tehran Virtual Book Fair, 1,700 publishers participated in the exhibition.”
He mentioned the reduction of additional costs as another feature of the fair, adding, “We saw a reduction of about five to seven percent in the costs of holding the fair, most of which were seen in the infrastructure sector.”
Earlier, the director of the international section of the book fair, Shiva Vakil-Naslian, said that publishers from various countries such as Spain, Indonesia, Colombia and Senegal had attended the event.
The 38th series of Iran’s National Book Award and the 28th Iran’s International Book Award wrapped up in a ceremony on Saturday.
The closing ceremony was attended by President Hassan Rouhani, Minister of Culture Salehi, and the head of the first Tehran Virtual Book Fair, Ayyoub Dehqankar.
Selected by the jury as the Books of the Year in various fields, the books were awarded at the ceremony.