99% of Austrian People are Book Readers

1396/02/22-09:02

Patrick Zöhrer, the exhibition manager of the Vienna International Book Fair described the people of his country as thoroughly interested in reading. He said, “99% of Austrian people are book readers.”
Attending the Aftab Town, the place of the 30th Tehran International Book Fair, Zöhrer had a meeting with Seyyed Abbas Salehi, the Cultural Deputy of Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance to talk about the possibility of collaborations between the two book fairs.  
After this meeting, he explained to the reporters about the Vienna International Book Fair, “45,000 titles are presented in the Vienna International Book Fair and we are pleased to have publishers from Iran.”
Expressing his surprise of the vastness of the Tehran International Book Fair, and concentration of the publishers’ activities in the book fair, Zöhrer stated, “The TIBF may be 10 times vaster than the Vienna International Book Fair.”
Regarding the motto of this edition of the TIBF ‘Let’s Read One Book More’ he said, “We would say, ‘Let’s Read Two Books More!’ Austrian people are generally book readers and I daresay that 99% of citizens of this country are book readers. This is while the Austrian population is 100% literate. They love reading since they believe that book reading opens the minds.” 
Comparing the TIBF with the Frankfurt Book Fair, he said, “Although Iran and Germany have the same populations, the latter has 500,000 visitors while millions visit the former. However, this is due two the different natures of the two book fairs. The Frankfurt Book Fair is a specialized one.”
Zöhrer regarded the events of Guest of Honor and Special City Guest in the TIBF as positive experiences and hoped that also the Vienna International Book Fair will be the Guest of Honor in the TIBF in the future possibly in 2019.