Iran's president Rouhani delivers speech at 32nd ceremony of Irans Book of the Year Awards & the 22nd round of Irans Intl. Book of the Year Awards.[/caption]TEHRAN, Feb. 08 (MNA) President Rouhani, speaking in 32nd ceremony of Irans Book of the Year Awards and the 22nd round of Irans Intl. Book of the Year Awards, stressed the role authors and publishers have to play in their societies.
Hassan Rouhani, inaugurating the event with his speech, asserted that Irans Islamic Revolution stems from books and writings of Imam Khomeini and it was a revolution of minds and thoughts. He said all writers and scholars have to revitalize the freshness of Irans Revolution and its concepts.
Considering criticism in book and publishing arena, Rouhani highlighted that critics have to be just and fair and criticism has to consider the nature and essence of a subject rather than the marginal issues.
President Rouhani, meanwhile, emphasized that the books have to be evaluated by professionals of the field and the government has to leave the assessment process to the scholars and authors. The writers and publishers have to help us with defining the evaluation system, he added.
He also emphasized on the need to limit the censorship principles to certain categories and described morality, sanctities, security and national interests as the defining themes of censorship. He added this arena has to be handed to the outstanding authors and publishers as well.
Noting the low rate of reading in Iran he called for examination of the issue by writers and urged them to offer solutions to the government.
The president meanwhile said all obstacles in the way of publishing a book, from writing to spreading, must be removed.
He also urged the Revolutionary authors to clarify about the ambiguities and explain the Islamic Revolution explicitly for the youth and help them to maintain the concepts of independence and freedom.
Stressing that authors have to boost hope, President Rouhani concluded that writers have the task of promoting unity in the country and decreasing the tensions in the world to create a peaceful universe.
By Mehr News Agency
