Iranian, Portuguese, and global pages at VIII Eurasian Book Exhibition
The Presidential Center in Astana hosted the VIII Eurasian Book Fair 2025, bringing together authors, literary enthusiasts, and international representatives, Kazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
The fair, running until April 27, features around 70 exhibitors, including publishers, booksellers, and educational institutions from Kazakhstan, Russia, Iran, Portugal, China, and other nations.
“The goal of the exhibition is to popularize reading, form a culture of conscious reading, promote new books, demonstrate technological achievements in book publishing, and develop international cooperation in the field of literature and printed products,” Akimat of Astana underscored.
José Ataíde Amaral, Head of Mission at the Portuguese Embassy, in an interview with Kazinform News Agency, emphasized the significance of Portugal’s debut as an independent exhibitor.
“We are very honored and happy to participate this year. We have books about many Portuguese authors and about Portugal in general, but this year we want to emphasize Fernando Pessoa and also Luís de Camões because it's the 500th anniversary of his birth. We also have books in general about Portuguese literature and our culture, because it's not as known in Kazakhstan as we would like it to be. I think the book fair offers us a very good opportunity to promote Portuguese culture and literature,” he said.
When asked about future translation projects, Amaral added, “We are having contacts in this sense with the main publishers here in Kazakhstan. We will do it step by step, because I understand that from the Kazakhstan point of view, for the Kazakhstan publishers, it's more interesting to publish contemporary Portuguese writers. So, not the classics that are so close to my heart, but probably we'll start with the contemporary authors. I hope that next year, at the book fair, we're going to have Portuguese writers present at the fair, presenting their own books in the Kazakh language.”
The Iranian stand presented live calligraphy demonstrations and a selection of Persian classics translated into Kazakh and Russian. The embassy’s representative explained, “We have different books from our famous poets that you may know, for example, Rumi, Shahnameh Ferdowsi, Khayyam, Saadi, Hafiz, and so on. Shahnameh is also presented like it’s translated into the Kazakh language. Also, we have some different books that are translated into Russian. We do have some books for children and also some other stories for adults, which are presented in Russian and Kazakh.”
Earlier, Kazinform conducted interviews with Spanish author Eduardo Lillo Moreno, who presented his children’s book El bosque del lago at the fair, as well as with Venezuelan Ambassador Rosalba Lo Bue Antico, who highlighted the importance of cultural exchange.
