tehran international book fair

bargeboo: international book fair is an event not to be missed in tehran. i remember when i was there – 13 years ago – i used to look forward to going every year. even though it was so very hot, so very dusty and so very smelly from all the bodies sweating in the smoldering heat. most of the books were technical back then, too specific for my fun-loving, eager-for-a-good-novel teenage mind.

i was quite a reader back then though… i have always been. i moved every couple of months from one writer to another or from writers of one country to another, thanks for my mother’s almost obsessive attachment to rare books. she would not buy a book unless it was translated by the best, published by the best and printed in the best paper available. judging by the huge library she had put together (over 10’000 amazing books) i could only guess at how many hours she has spent researching, buying and finally reading them. and yes she had read every single one! i owe my deep love for written word to her devotion.

i would go to her and ask her to show me something to read. the way she would become animated, smiling broadly and walking with me happily into our library was half the pleasure of the experience. the other half was watching her move her delicate fingers over the titles, explaining about each one, and why i would enjoy it, how hard of a read it was, what was special about it and why she had chosen to buy it. she would ask me about what i had read last and if i wanted to move on or still read along the same lines. sometimes we would end up talking about what i had read so much we would forget all about why we had come into the library in the first place. the books were organized by subject, the ones closest to the ceiling were those my brother and i would probably not find interesting and were only worth the climb if you were a grown-up … or so we were told! funny enough i was never really too curious, being so busy at the hundreds of books that were accessible to my short arms. the cabinets bellow, the only ones with doors were full of children’s books, including the much coveted complete set of tintin and milou’s adventures in hard cover.

i never realized how privileged and lucky i was that she had provided so many amazingly written and illustrated children’s books for us to read until i got older and tried to buy some books myself. children’s books were not new in iran. thanks to the former queen, farah diba, the organization called “the institute for enrichment of children and youth’s minds” (kanoon-e parvaresh-e fekri koodakan va nojavanaan) was busy publishing local writers and great books for children, and most importantly categorizing them by age. what was new however were stories that were purely imaginative or books for preschoolers, you know little people who can’t read yet? in essence picture books, touch and explore kind of books were quite rare then but my mother had them for us. where from? i am not sure.

in late 1980s illustration for children’s books started gaining grounds by an annual exhibition and award ceremony which my mother and i attended every year religiously before we left iran in 1991. what was amazing in her collection was the quality of illustrations and the stories themselves. we had the traditional ones, typically teaching us good from bad kind of stories and some that were purely based on imagination and the fantastic. just what i needed when i was growing up in the hell hole that was iran in the first ten years after the revolution.  the historical section was the one i was going to start on next before we left iran. to this day i regret not being old enough to be interested before i left the books behind. and yes, they are still in iran, catalogued and numbered, stored in boxes, waiting for me to get rich and bring them here to my huge house which i will buy with my riches.

back to the book fair …
english books were rare and expensive, mostly in hard cover. computers were yet to be so wide spread and popular so books on math, tofle and learning english were the most sought after books   .... my brother’s playground!

it was also a place to go if you wanted to be seen by a more “selected” crowd; to check out the university boys and feel a little separate from female crazy  masses out there …

i had heard that the fair has changed over the years and i was happy to read z8un’s account from this year’s show. i have translated one of her posts before. she has become one of my favorite farsi bloggers, because of her sweet and direct style of writing. she writes often, and in length. talks about seemingly mundane everyday things but they are full of fantastic information and always a pleasure to read. she also seems to be involved in many things from cinema to working with afghanis and journalism and much more.  at first glance you might feel the details are too mondane but o me to speak volums of day to day life in tehran, the details of living compared to what we are used out in other countries. i hope you enjoy the passage bellow as much as i did:

<< source: z8un.com >>
<< may 10, 2004 >>

my reader friend
an addict can pull 10 others into the same trap
how many have you made a reader?

(written on one of the posters in this year’s book fair)

… we started at 11 am and were there till 11 at night, got home at midnight. the fair seemed much better than the years before. maybe because it was the first time we could take our cars inside! there were no street merchants this year expect one who was selling the black market cd of the movie “marmoolak” and he didn’t have a booth or anything either and was just announcing it.

the fair seemed to me more crowded this year but much more organized. almost everything was provided. “comfort stations” were set up every 10 meters or so, with chairs arranged under umbrellas. there were booths where you could check in your heavy books so you could continue your visit with light hands, and mail depots for out of town visitors so they could send their purchases ahead. there were also lots of food stands, giving service to the hungry and thirsty. their number seemed a lot more this year and a lot cleaner too.

the visitors also seemed more like the buying crowd. not like last year where there were lots who had only come to show themselves all made up in fancy clothes. almost everyone had a book in hand.

the station where we were to show our id and buy “purchase cards” was not crowded and we got our cards quickly, for a 1000 tomans* each. and of course the purchase area for sisters and brothers were separated so no sin may be committed!

the university professors and high level mullahs could buy up to 100,000 tomans.
the assistant professors, ph.d. students, specialists and middle level mullahs : up to 80,000 tomans
the gps, masters students and low level mullahs: 60,000 tomans
those with bachelor degrees, undergrad students and the “roze-khans**” : 40,000 and i was part of this category.

as always, in the non-farsi booths, any book that the university students would pick up they would first look at the price, and then would sigh. often the price of a single book was greater than their entire shopping allowance. they were allowed 40,000 tomans of purchases but the book was 59,000 for example. but a student might need 7-8 or 10 books. many of these books were quite expensive. i myself liked a book which was not even 500 pages and priced at 33,000. i didn’t buy it. this year i wanted to buy mostly farsi books.

… while my friend was gone to pick out some technical books, i used the chance and browsed through the picture books for free. lots of books with beautiful photos of flowers, various animals like horses, dogs, birds …. botanical books, sculpting, architecture, interior design (living room and kitchen) also books of painting from masters such as van gogh which was lots of fun to look at. the book about mark chagall was the funniest. the poor fellow had set about drawing lots of images of religious figures but the fair organizers had censored most of them with a thick black marker.  for example, abraham is sacrificing his son but the son’s “pee pee” is showing! they had used the marker so much that forget the penis; his entire body from knees to shoulders was islamized!! another time a man and a woman were holding each other while riding a horse, kissing, all their face and the woman’s breasts were blackened. of course they only meant well, they wanted to help us develop our imagination!

besides, chagall should have been more careful to not draw such bawdy images … didn’t he have a sister and a mother himself?!

the “fair winds” booth had lots of books about film making and theater in original languages. the india booth (ubs) was as busy as always. they had very cheap books. books on medical surgery, as good as free! a huge book on english grammar only 2500 tomans, romeo and juliet 900 tomans, etc. there weren’t too many technical books though and most of the rest were old. most were marked as sold out. “mc graw hill” had lots of great books but all expensive.

the best booth attendant was mr. p who was in charge of the “john wiley” booth. he was trying very hard to help everyone find their books. most of the other attendants didn’t even know what books were in their own booths.

… when you were to enter the exhibition area for journalism … there was a large and interesting statue of a man whose face and suite were covered with newspaper and was using a newspaper covered watering can to water a pen. i wish there were a woman’s statue there too. why do men always have to be symbols of journalism?

… the exhibition area for farsi books was also very popular. the booths were full of new books and vip people … one of the most interesting areas were the ones for kids. when you went inside it was hard to leave, because of how cheerful everything was inside. the sound of girls singing a sporty song could be heard over everything and once i went further in i saw it was from a children’s workout cd and in it the girls were almost dancing! it was very pretty. the kanoon’s booth was very busy as expected. so many booths, so many colorful and different books, so many hand puppets and puzzles and toys … back when i was a kid there wasn’t anything like this going on …

i did a stupid thing and bought the cd for the movie marmoolak. i wish someone had warned me before about these illegal bootleg copies and their terrible quality. it has been filmed from inside the theatre; the sound quality is terrible as if it’s coming from the bottom of a well!

one thing that was quite interesting was the sheer number of mullahs in the exhibition areas. what was more interesting was the reaction of people and the booth keepers this year towards them. a couple of girls handling a booth selling 3d books were laughing and whooping it up with two mullahs, who were acting so much like cool hip boys that it was laughable. after they left, one of the girls exclaimed loudly: awwwe … how cute … they looked just  like reza marmoolak! (the main character in the movie). so i was right, as i had guessed all along, this movie did not harm them in anyway, quite the contrary.

perhaps it’s a good time now to tell you what i thought of the movie … in my opinion the mullahs before its too late (!) should take advantage of it as much as they can. this movie teaches them how to fill up the empty mosques, how to come down from the elevated preachers’ stands … get closer to the people. teaches them that people don’t like pampered hands and they should learn a profession, a craft. read good non-religious books. teaches them to exercise so they lose their pot bellies! teaches them that people don’t like to go to mosques just to mourn, they need enjoyment too! let girls and boys have fun. to bring their own talk closer to the people’s, like learning popular phrases and many other things. mullahs should thank [the movie's director] for showing them the way to salvation!

… all day instead of lunch and dinner we ate ice cream and cold drinks … and of course fries that was available everywhere. this year they didn’t smell like burnt or stale oil either. maybe there were inspectors supervising this year. the cooks all had uniforms, very clean formal chef outfits with chef hats.

there were two booths that got my attention outside of the main exhibition area. one was for ms patients with a very pretty girl attending it who said she has ms although it wasn’t apparent from her speech or behavior … and another booth that its proceeds were to go to cancer patients. they were selling soup and drinks there … more expensive that other places but because it was to benefit cancer research one would pay happily.

… the r. company had also recreated the cow in their logo as large dolls to amuse people, and get their attention. i don’t think there is anything wrong with that. it’s not a bad thing for a book fair to have a little bit of variety and fun in it. maybe this way the non-readers could be encouraged to visit and maybe a book might catch their eye so they would buy it …

* each us dollar is about 800 tomans.

** roze-khani is a custom most often seen at a wake or a funeral reception where the family of the deceased hosts those who wish to pay their respects. a roze-khan is hired to come and tell tear-jerking stories of the prophet mohammad and his descendants so the guests and the family can release their angst, sometimes both a male and a female for each respective crowd. it is to help the healing process and may go on for several days. a “roze” (a sad religious tale delivered in a sing-song tone) is also used in various religious anniversary parades; blaring over loud speakers as lines of mourners stump their chest to the rhythm. during the 8 year war of iran/iraq it was famously used to prep the young soon to be martyrs who were about to go into battle.

a roze can also be delivered by a woman, usually in private functions where lady of the house hosts a “party” feeding many guests with a feast, the occasion a wish that has come true or one saint or another. for example, she might say if my wish comes true i would then offer a feast every year. the first hour or so of the event is the roze-khani, or the deliverance of the roze which is accompanied by dramatic displays of tears and prayers by many of the attendants. the second half is the eating, the chit-chatting, the gossiping, and even the finding-of-future-wives-for-sons part. roze khani remains a deeply rooted tradition in iranian society.