Iranian literati to celebrate Intl. Children’s Book Day

TEHRAN,April 2 (MNA) -- Members of the Iranian Children’s Book Council plan to celebrate the International Children’s Book Day (ICBD) during a ceremony in Tehran today. Each year a national section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) has the opportunity to be the international sponsor of the ICBD. The Mexican branch of the IBBY will sponsor this year’s celebration, and Mexican artist and author Francisco Hinojosa has written a message for this occasion. The theme selected for this year’s ICBD is “Once upon a time, there was a story that the whole world told”. The theme and a message sent by Hinojosa will be discussed at the ceremony, which will be held by the Iranian Children’s Book Council. The council also plans to review works of Iranian children’s book illustrator Mohammad-Ali Bani-Asadi, who was nominated for the 2012 Hans Christian Andersen Awards, which are presented by the IBBY. Since 1967, on or around Hans Christian Andersen's birthday, April 2, the ICBD has been celebrated all over the world, aiming to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children’s books. The celebration is coordinated by the IBBY, a non-profit organization dedicated to bringing children and books together. “Once upon a time, there was a story that the whole world told. In fact, it was not just one story but many, and they began to fill the world with tales of disobedient girls and seductive wolves, glass slippers and love-struck princes, clever cats and little tin soldiers, and friendly giants and chocolate factories. “They filled the world with words, intelligence, images and extraordinary characters. They invited the world to laugh, to be amazed, to coexist. They gave it meaning,” Hinojosa wrote in his message, which was published by the IBBY.