Statements in an Interview with the Reporter of the IRIB News Agency at the End of the Tehran Book Fair

The reporter: (1) Greetings and thank you for your time. Your Excellency, alongside your extraordinary attention to economic issues, you have symbolically and practically attended the 34th Tehran Book Fair; could you please share the significance of books in our culture and how they contribute to the elevation of culture?

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. First of all, I am very pleased to have the opportunity to participate in this exhibition this year. This exhibition, the book exhibition that is held every year, is a great public gathering, predominantly cultural in nature, and this is very encouraging; truly, this exhibition is inspiring. What I observed this year at the exhibition was gratifying. Firstly, the large number of attendees was evident, and the statistics provided to me indicated that the number of visitors over these few days has been high, which is very good; the amount of books purchased has also been very good. Furthermore, having personally visited several booths, one feels that the book publishing industry is progressing despite some unfavorable conditions.

By "unfavorable conditions," I primarily refer to the high cost of paper and sometimes the poor quality of paper. Today, the esteemed Minister (2) informed me that good initiatives have begun in the production of quality paper. Of course, I emphasized this issue several years ago (3), but they did not pursue it; now, thank God, they have started. We hope this will help break the high prices of books—purchasing books at these prices is truly difficult—and with the reduction in paper costs and the arrival of quality domestic paper, the situation will improve.

In any case, these are unfavorable conditions, yet despite them, one sees that the number of book titles has significantly increased; for instance, in the year 1401, the number of books published exceeded that of several years before the revolution; this is a very important matter. Even though there are numerous economic challenges, the number of book titles has risen. The print runs of books, of course, are not very high; they are relatively low or in some cases low, yet the number of publications is high; some books have been printed ten, fifteen, twenty, or thirty times. Right now, I was informed that a particular book has been printed around two hundred times; well, if, for example, the print run each time is a thousand, that is a significant and considerable amount. Therefore, this is encouraging.

The issue of books is a significant matter. The culture of the country, the cultural development of the country, always requires books; even though today many other facilities have emerged—such as virtual space and the like—books still hold a very high and important position. All artistic, media, and cultural activities, such as theater, cinema, even painting, and audiovisual works, require books; that is, only those who engage with books can produce good artistic or media works. Therefore, while I recommend that all people read books, and I have always recommended this, especially to the youth, I want to emphasize today that those involved in programming for television, radio, and the press, as well as those engaged in artistic endeavors, performing arts, and audiovisual arts in any form, particularly need to read many books. Thank God, we also have authored books on all subjects today. This is one issue.

Another issue is translation. In the distant past, during our youth, most books were translations; that is, they were primarily translations of foreign books published here. Now, one feels that the authored and written books within the country constitute a large share of the books in the country; these need to be translated. I have no objection to translating foreign works—of course, [the foreign work] must be good, its orientation must be correct, and it must not be misleading—however, conversely, there must also be an emphasis on translating domestic books into foreign languages. And as much as possible, the language into which we want to translate should be the mother tongue of the translator; for example, if we want to translate a Persian book into Arabic, it should be translated by a true Arab whose mother tongue is Arabic; or English, or similarly for other languages.

I also emphasize the issue of children's and adolescents' books. Fortunately, I saw that several booths have worked on this issue, and I reiterate that for children and adolescents, they should prepare as many books as possible to free us from foreign books so that we can provide our youth with books that align with our culture, our orientations, and our goals, God willing. This is another issue.

The issue of publishing is also among the important matters. Now, I spoke with some friends here, and they provided good news regarding publishing. I again emphasize that publishing plays a significant role in the country's reading culture. Publishing must be smooth, good, accessible everywhere, and easy to carry out.

In any case, today was a good exhibition, thank God. During the few hours I spent here, I was genuinely pleased. One observes promising developments here; good efforts, good forces, good youth, and good motivations are evident at the exhibition.

The reporter: Thank you. Another question I have for Your Excellency, considering your mention that you were here from eight-thirty to eleven-thirty, for three hours you visited the exhibition, where did your interest in books and reading originate, and alongside your specialized studies, what books do you enjoy and recommend to the youth?

As for where it started, that is history, and it is not very significant; however, I read all kinds of books. I read a lot; I read specialized technical books, scientific books, novels, especially memoirs. These memoirs related to the Sacred Defense and the defense of the shrine that are published are very valuable; this is a new genre of book production that has fortunately taken off well, and women are very active in this field; female authors have produced very good writings, and I read a lot of them.

The reporter: Thank you very much, you have been kind.

God willing, may you be successful. May God protect you.