Today is the time to build the bridges between
    yesterday and tomorrow                                                               2008/06/21

The honored guests, friends and colleagues, ladies and gentlemen;

First I wish to start by paying tribute to the memory of those who made lifelong efforts for the well being of the children of this country, three of whom we have lost within the past three months, the short period before the new year and now. We lost Samin Baghchehban, Parvin Dolatabadi and Nader Ebrahimi. Let their soul rest in peace. Their passing is a great loss to us, but our greatest fear is that in this turbulent times that we live, their voices be gradually lost and themselves forgotten, like many others.

How painful it is when you ask a school going young adult about Roshdieh, and he looks at you bewildered; he does not remember or does not know at all that Roshdieh was the person who made it possible for him to stand up from the damp floor of the back rooms of Maktabkhaneh (traditional schools) and sit on the chair and behind the desk of their school; and that he fought for everything, not in the symbolic sense but a real fight. Our young boys and girls do not know that Roshdieh was attacked by guns and shrapnel and schools he built were demolished intentionally to break him and his new ideas.

But he stood up and defeated the narrow-minded people.

We are fearful that the future generation would forget that in our country kindergartens based on Montessori methods were established in 1921, and modern children's poetry was written in 1920s. That the first institutions to work on children's literature were established, songs were written and the most beautiful stories and illustrations were created for the children of this country long ago; and that hundreds of unknown promoters with back packs in jeeps and mobile libraries were sent to remote villages. We are fearful that the present and future generations would be unaware of all this.

Documentation of all these events is as valuable and priceless as protecting a historical monument. To safeguard and disseminate poems of Parvin Dolatabadi in our country is no less important that restoring the palace of Persepolis. In future our children should not be proud only of our historical monuments but they should know and be proud of men and women who brought pride to our country; they should know and be honored that it is not only Shahnameh that we are proud of but there are many other treasures still hidden under the dust of history, treasures that have to be revealed and brought out to shine.

But how?

Yes, the concerned Government Offices are responsible for the restoration of the national culture and heritage, but what about us?

This is the question we as The Institute for Research on the History of Children’s Literature asked ourselves twelve years ago and realized that there is no time for delay.

We did our best but we were still too late, as we were planning to visit Tahbaz , the director of Kanoon publishing house before revolution, we were informed that he had passed; when we visited Nader Ebrahimi, the great children’s writer and translator, he was no longer able to speak, while many others had left Iran during that period. We had just finished the interviews with Masumeh Sohrab, one of the founders of Children’s Book Council of Iran, and Mansoureh Raii, children’s literature expert and the member of Executive Committee of Children’s Book Council of Iran , that we heard the sad news of their passing. As we were sending the last volumes of the "History of Children’s Literature" to the printers we lost Parvin Dolatabadi and Nader Ebrahimi.

Time goes by fast and we are as fearful that tomorrow may be too late. Let us do our utmost to prepare cultural provisions for the future of our children while there is time. Everyone on their part and everyone in the realm of their work.

We have written 10 volumes of the "History of Children's Literature in Iran", the history of the childhood of this country, the history of dedications and endeavors made by outstanding Iranian men and women. Thousands of documents are collected; these valuable documents belong to the future generations of this land. We see two ways to restore the documents: either the Government institutions should establish the National Museum; an option that so far has not been materialized despite all measures taken, or the people, the true owners of this cultural heritage should help in founding this museum for their children.

How can we do it? Let's think together and jointly materialize this dream.

The lives of the outstanding personalities in this field should be documented. While we intend to make the films on the basis of the collected documents and conducted interviews, we need the people, those who value the children and culture of this country to extend their assistance to this plan. We have already started our work and prepared the initial interviews for making the films, but we have a long way to go and believe we will not be alone as we expect your positive response.

Thank you