Paulo Coelho

TEHRAN, May 17--One of the controversial issues at the 18th Tehran International Book Fair was the imposition of bans on a number of books.
According to Fars news agency, film scripts Matrix One, Matrix Two and Matrix Three were banned for two days but the ban was later lifted.
Thirteen books in the field of music published by Mas Publishing House including ’Free as a Bird’ by the pop group the Beatles, ’Devil’s Dance’ by Metallica, ’The March of the Black Queen’ by Queen, ’Voo Doo Lounge’, lyrics by Rolling Stones , ’November Rain’ by Guns n’Roses, ’Last Year’s Man’ by Leonard Cohen, ’Sepul Nation’ by Sepultra group, ’Turn Up the Night’ by Black Sabbath group, ’Skin the Sun’ by Nirvana group, ’How to Disappear Completely’ by Radio Head, ’Sing’ by Travis group, ’Zombie’ by the Cranberries and 󈧲 & 2’ by Tools group were confiscated on the first few days of the fair.
The books ’Blind Owl’ and ’Haji Aqa’ both written by the renowned Iranian writer Sadeq Hedayat and published by Omid-e Farda Publishing House and the book ’Modern Iran’ by Nikki R. Keddie and published by Qoqnous Publishing House were among the books which were also banned at the fair.
Another publication to be seized was ’Corpse of Maryam, Daughter of Saeed’, an anthology of poems by Dariuosh Memar published by Panda Publishing House.
Meanwhile BBC reported that the latest novel by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho has also been banned, its publisher said.
Authorities confiscated 1,000 copies of ’The Zahir’ at the Tehran Book Fair on May 9 but did not give a reason, according to the publisher Caravan.
’The Zahir’, published in Iran last month, tells the story of an author who tries to track down his missing war correspondent wife.
Coelho has sold an estimated 65 million books around the world.
His previous novels include ’The Alchemist’ and ’Eleven Minutes’, and ’The Zahir’ will be published in 83 countries.
Caravan’s Arash Hejazi said he was now worried about his safety.
Hejazi said Iranian intelligence agents went to the book fair and took his remaining 1,000 copies.
They told him ’The Zahir’ was now banned and he must report to the authorities in the next few days. “I am concerned about my family. The presidential election is near. They are doing everything to keep things under control,“ he said.
The country’s culture ministry had ’become extremely afraid of the increased popularity of Paulo Coelho’, he added.
Coelho said they had gone through the ’normal procedures’ of getting a government permit to publish the book.

TEHRAN, May 17--World Museum Day and Cultural Heritage Week will be observed on May 18 at Faramarzi Gallery with a presentation of ceramic works by Mehdi Anoushfar and Ali Faramarzi.
According to ILNA, the fifth annual exhibit of galleries and cultural heritage is currently underway in Tehran.
Faramarzi will present 10 ceramic works depicting his modern approach to architecture and climatic conditions in Iran’s desert regions from various perspectives consistent with the extent of desert covering the country.
Mehdi Anoushfar will also present 10 ceramic works called ’Golden Color’.
He applied old techniques to manufacture the most precious dishes of the fifth and sixth century.
’Golden Color’, is a style of ceramic art which goes back to 900 years. The best ceramic works from the style belong to the Seljuk era and includes the altar, bowls and plates.
This style of ceramic art was also used in Islamic states for the first time including those in Iran, Iraq, Egypt and southern Spain.
The exhibit will be open to the public until May 21.
Meanwhile, veteran visual arts masters Zahra Rahnavard and Morteza Momayez will display a collection of lithography and posters at Kamaleddin Behzad Gallery on the occasion.
Kamaleddin Behzad Gallery affiliated to Al-Zahra University will hold the exhibit in cooperation with Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization by presenting lithography by Zahra Rahnavard in abstract style.
Rahnavard’s work which is mainly abstract was created in 2003. Glass is in the category of construction materials in Iran and is featured in the crystal form at the exhibit.
Momayez has also displayed posters from his earliest works in 1973 to those he painted for Fajr international film festivals.

TEHRAN, May 17--Head of the Telecommunications Department’s Research Center here on Monday inaugurated the International Conference on Nationalization of Information Technology (IT).
Speaking at the ceremony, Mohammad Reza Sadri said that the department’s target is to provide one percent of the contents on the Internet in Persian language using Persian script, ISNA reported.
Sadri said that the indigenization of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is of high significance. “In the fourth five-year plan (2005-2010) and the 20-year perspective for economic, social and cultural uplift have envisaged infrastructural development for the IT and ICT sectors in Iran,“ Sadri said.
He said that while there are 420 million English language speakers constituting 7.5 percent of the global population, some 291 million people are communicating in English on the Internet which amounts to 26.3 percent of total Internet users.
“Some 68.4 percent of the contents on the Internet is in English and 36 percent of the Internet users are from English speaking nations. However some 64.4 percent of the web pages on the Internet are in English.
“Persian speakers constitute 1.5 percent of the global population. We are targeting one percent of the Internet communications to be converted into Persian language. Of course, it is not an easy target and the figure is high enough to help us have a fair share in the global communications networks,“ he said.
Sadri said that Iran has adopted programs to overcome the digital divide with the developed nations.
Elaborating on the national program to promote IT and ICT, he said that the government has developed ICT networks in the deprived areas of the country, helped promote Persian language, provincial dialects and teaching English and other foreign languages as well as supplying hardware and software to users in the rural areas.
Chairman of Academy of Persian Language and Literature, Hassan Habibi, outlined the national program for making the IT industry indigenous.
Mohammad Azadnia, secretary of the conference, said that making the IT and ICT industries indigenous will be pursued in cooperation with national and international organizations.

TEHRAN, May 17--Former head of the Sacred Defense Era Filmmakers Association, Nasser Shafaq has criticized the cancellation of the festival of sacred defense films which feature works about the eight-year Iraqi-imposed war.
“Secretary of the Sacred Defense Film Festival has announced the cancellation of the event. It seemed that the already scheduled festival has been cancelled for financial reason, but, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and Farabi Cinema Foundation always extends good cooperation for the festival to be held annually,“ Shafaq told ISNA.
“The festival was cancelled due to disagreement within its management. This is not an appropriate attitude for dealing with works relating to the sacred defense era. It is improper for an organ announce a date for the sacred defense films festival and then cancel it. It leads to instability in the field of arts works,“ he said.

An photo exhibition will be held in Osveh Cultural and Artistic Complex on May 24 to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr from Iraqi-occupation.

TEHRAN, May 17--An exhibition of photos titled ’In Memory of Those Days’ will be held in Osveh Cultural and Artistic Complex Monday May 24 to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Khorramshahr from Iraqi-occupation during the imposed war of 1980-1988.
Announcing this, director general of the Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry’s Propagation and Information Dissemination Office said that concurrent with the inauguration of the exhibit, photographers involved in the event as well as martyrs, war veterans and MiAs among the photographers will be honored.
Mojtaba Aqaei further said that the exhibit will simultaneously be held in Khorramshahr while a one-day gathering titled ’War Photography’ will be held on May 25.
Participants will discuss ’Photographers’ Feelings During the War’, ’Photography Performance and Role of Photographer’, ’Role of War Photography in Media’, ’Sociology of War Photography’ and ’Press and War Photographers’.
After the exhibit, all the photos on display will be donated to Martyr Foundation’s Museum.
Propagation and Information Dissemination Office, Martyr Foundation as well as Sacred Defense Era Photographers Association and International Crisis Photographers Association will sponsor the eight-day event.

TEHRAN, May 17--The eighth conference on ’Commemoration of Molla Sadra’ will open here on May 22.
The conference will focus on studying ’Practical Wisdom’ in Molla Sadra school of thought. Philosophers and scholars have applied for delivering lectures at the event on a range of topics.
Out of the 61 essays submitted to the secretariat of the conference, some 31 essays have been selected for the three commissions of the conference: Philosophy of Ethics, Philosophy of Politics and Philosophy of Art.
Meanwhile, National Association of Molla Sadra will hold an expert meeting and a book exhibit on the sidelines of the conference.
The Foundation for Sadra Islamic Wisdom, the only center for research studies on Islamic philosophy and wisdom, was established in 1999 concurrent with the International Conference on Molla Sadra.
Since then, Conference on Molla Sadra school of thought is held annually at the national, regional and international levels with the aim of propagating Islamic philosophy.
Philosopher Sadreddin Mohammad bin Ibrahim bin Yahya Qavami Shirazi, known as Molla Sadra, and Sadr-ul-Muta’allihin, was born in Shiraz in 1572. He is considered to be the greatest Persian philosopher and perhaps the single most important and influential philosopher in the Muslim world in the last 400 years. He died in Basra in 1640 while on his 7th pilgrimage on foot to Mecca and was buried in the city of Najaf in Iraq.