The fair, which opened on January 20, was brought to an end on Friday, after the organizers extended the fair twice for four more days.
17 international webinars were also organized on various cultural topics during the event.
The virtual fair was open around the clock and over 1.2 million books were ordered, the Iran Book and Literature House announced in a press release published on Saturday.
The books will be delivered to all the various cities across the country for free.
The book fair was inaugurated in a ceremony held at the Iran Book and Literature House attended by Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Abbas Salehi, Iran Book and Literature House director Ayyub Dehqankar, and Union of Tehran Publishers and Booksellers director Hooman Hassanpur.
Culture Minister Salehi believed that the publishing industry had experienced a great loss during the coronavirus era in Iran and in the world, calling the virtual book fair a new experience that can be a valuable event.
“The virtual space has helped the publishing industry. E-books and podcasts have helped promote book reading in this space,” he said.
“The world of today is the world of data, and the more knowledge and power we have, the better we can reinforce cultural movements,” he added.
The 33rd edition of Iran’s most important cultural event was scheduled to be held in April 2020, and Turkey was slated to be the guest of honor, however, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance canceled the fair due to a massive rise in the death toll from coronavirus in the country.
Due to the ongoing pandemic, the ministry and the Iran Book and Literature House, the main organizers of the book fair, decided in the end to run the event online.
Source:Tehran Times