IRNA - The 30th Tehran International Book Fair began its work on Tuesday officially in a ceremony attended by Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani and Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Reza Salehi Amiri.


The inaugural ceremony was also attended by a number of Iranian officials, foreign guests and diplomats as well as major domestic and foreign writers and publishers.

The fair will host visitors on May 3-13, from 10am to 8:30 pm.

“Let’s read one more book” is the motto of this year’s book fair.

Undersecretary of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism Antimo Cesaro is one of the special speakers of the opening ceremony.

He is also the guest of honor at the major cultural event.

Some 2,282 publishers, including 2,643 domestic and 139 foreign companies from 110 countries put their books on display in an area of 135,000 square meters.

Some 16.5 billion-rial (almost $500,000) credit is allocated this year to subsidies for students and university professors to buy the presented books.

The Turkish city of Istanbul is received as the guest city at this year’s book fair.

It is also planned that every day of the ten-day book fair be named after one of the Iranian provinces and one of the foreign participating countries in order to introduce special ceremonies and traditions of that special province and country.