Vol. 72/No. 24 June 16, 2008
The breadth of publishing in the country was evident in the Farsi section of the fair. A vast hall housing Iranian publishers offering books in Farsi was particularly packed. A separate area selling children’s books was also popular.
Translations into Farsi of classic works of literature, such as Shakespeare and Dostoevsky, were available as well as translations of a range of contemporary writers, such as Toni Morrison. Iranian novels and poetry were widespread, alongside computer manuals, language books, cookbooks, and books on sports.
‘Capital’ translated into Farsi
A publisher called Agah (Consciousness) had just released a new Farsi translation of Capital: Volume 1 by Karl Marx. The book is an attractive hardbound edition, which was prominently displayed in the publisher’s stand near the entrance to the Farsi section. Another book available was a Farsi translation of the interviews with Fidel Castro by Ignacio Ramonet, published in English as My Life: A Spoken Autobiography.
Two dozen Pathfinder titles that have been translated into Farsi were also available. The publisher Golāzin was selling Che Guevara Speaks, now in its third printing, as well as Sexism and Science and Problems of Women’s Liberation, both by Evelyn Reed.
Another publisher, Talaye Porsoo, had new translations this year of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Frederick Engels and Genocide Against the Indians by George Novack. This publisher reported sales of more than 500 books, with Socialism and Man in Cuba by Ernesto Che Guevara and Feminism and the Marxist Movement by Mary-Alice Waters the two top sellers.
There were two exhibition halls for foreign publishers. One had recently published titles where the sales were in dollars and subsidized by the government. Individuals at the undergraduate university level or higher, as well as institutes and government offices, could buy books with government subsidy.
There was a second, larger, subsidy-free hall open to the general public where publishers set their own prices in Iranian currency. Pathfinder Books London, which has participated in the Tehran fair since the early 1990s, was located there.
Interest in U.S. elections
A young visitor to the Pathfinder stand said he was trying to size up the Democratic and Republican candidates in the U.S. presidential race in terms of what their foreign policy might be toward Iran. He purchased The Lesser Evil? Debates on the Democratic Party and Independent Working-Class Politics by Jack Barnes.
Another young man stopped to check out books on the U.S. labor movement. He sat down to browse through three titles—Labor’s Giant Step, American Labor Struggles, and Teamster Rebellion—and settled on buying the latter after reading a few pages.
Overall, the stand sold just short of 190 books. The most popular books this year were titles related to the Cuban Revolution. There was also a noticeable rise in interest in U.S. politics.
More than 40 Cuba titles were sold. The best seller was Cuba and the Coming American Revolution by Jack Barnes, which book fair visitors found interesting because it addressed the possibility of a revolution in the United States.
Another good seller was Our History Is Still Being Written: The Story of Three Chinese-Cuban Generals in the Cuban Revolution. A documentary favorable to Fidel Castro, aired on state-run television during the fair, drew some visitors to the Pathfinder stand.
Close behind this were books and pamphlets on the fight for women’s liberation. Books by Evelyn Reed were particularly sought after with Is Biology Woman’s Destiny? the top seller. Collections of speeches by Malcolm X were also in demand with the stand nearly selling out of its stock. Several copies of New International, a magazine of Marxist politics and theory, were sold. The best selling New International was issue No. 12 with the lead article Capitalism’s Long Hot Winter Has Begun.
Related articles:
‘Teamster Power’ is now out in English and Spanish
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