Hundreds of thousands attend Tehran book fair

Militant/Catharina Tirsén

TEHRAN, Iran — The 30th International Book Fair concluded here in the Shahr-e Aftab International Exhibition Complex May 13 after 10 bustling days. Hundreds of thousands of visitors from Iran and neighboring countries browsed books in Farsi and other languages.

More than 2,600 domestic and some 140 foreign publishers exhibited. Participation by publishers from other countries remains limited, since — two years after the nuclear accord between Iran, Washington and five other world powers lifted many sanctions on Tehran — major Western banks nonetheless refuse to handle transactions here.

Pathfinder Books, a U.K. distributor, participated for the 25th time this year. Two new titles by Jack Barnes, national secretary of the Socialist Workers Party in the U.S., attracted a lot of interest: Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? Class, Privilege, and Learning Under Capitalism and The Clintons’ Anti-Working-Class Record: Why Washington Fears Working People. The demand for these titles, with more than 70 copies sold, helped raise total sales to a record level.

Some of those who came to the stand were familiar with books by Socialist Workers Party leaders. “The book was magnificent. It introduced me to Marxism and socialism,” said one young man who had bought Socialism on Trial by James P. Cannon at an earlier regional book fair in Yazd in central Iran. “I want more books like that.” He bought Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It by Leon Trotsky and What Is American Fascism? by Cannon and Joseph Hansen.

A woman from a neighboring country had bought Is Biology Woman’s Destiny? by Evelyn Reed last year. After browsing the ads in the book, she said, “This year I want the one about women after the Second World War,” referring to Cosmetics, Fashions, and the Exploitation of Women by Reed, Hansen and Mary-Alice Waters.

Talaye Porsoo, an Iranian publisher that translates Pathfinder titles into Farsi, had a booth in the main hall. A translation of Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? was a best seller, with 57 copies sold.

— CATHARINA TIRSÉN