9 Provinces of Iran Deprived of Even 3 Personal Bookshops

Source: Khorasan (fundamentalist newspaper)  in Farsi

 

Thursday: 24 July 2008    Page: 6

 

9 Provinces of Iran Deprived of Even 3 Personal Bookshops

By: Aaref

" While book reading and study is one of the characteristics of cultural development in a region ( country), the president of Publishers and Booksellers Union of Tabriz, Mr. Saeed Jalali, says: The interference of the state in publishing has caused the decline of  booksellers` activities day after day in a manner that there are not more than 3 personal bookshops in 9 provinces of the country now.

 

There are 9 provinces which have less than one million residents and while approximately 8 millions people live in these provinces, all of them have less than 3 bookshops altogether.

 

He adds: The main reason for decline of bookshops is the state interference in this field. The stare administers the provincial book fairs in different cities and this greatly causes decreasing of business activities in publishing industry.

 

He continues: according to Iran Statistics Center, a schoolteacher with bachelor degree earned 4.40US$/month in 1956. (50 years ago) The Buying Power of people has declined 60% up to 2006.

 

He adds: There were 30 bookshops in Tabriz City in 1956 while this number modified to 28 in 2006. And  also, the population of this city was 289,000 in 1956 which increased to 1,400,000 in 2006. Tabriz University had 900 students in 1956 and it extended to 66,000 students in 2006."