Alhoda Sponsors a Children's and Young Adult Literature Association for Afghan Writers
Children's and Young Adult Literature Association of Afghanistan was founded through eye-catching participation of Afghan writers and supports of Alhoda International Publishing Group.
Hamid Reza Shahabadi, managing director of Alhoda International Publishing Group, who has just returned from Afghanistan, referred to the establishment of Children’s and Young Adult Literature Association in Afghanistan in an interview with Alhoda’s Public Relations Department and said that regarding the increasing enthusiasm of Afghan writers to produce contents for children and young adult, forming such associations has been felt by Afghan officials many years ago.
Elsewhere in his remarks, he said, “The pre-arrangements for establishment of such association has been arranged in Tehran Book Fair this year and it became finalized during my trip to Afghanistan through meetings with Afghan scholars, who are expert in children’s and young adult literature.”
Emphasizing the important role of Afghan writers in this significant event, Managing Director of Alhoda said, “The objective behind this literary association is providing a condition in which children’s and young adult literature of Afghanistan to be managed by the Afghan writers and Alhoda only plays as sponsor and director in this process.”
Describing Alhoda’s strategy to sponsor the association, Shahabadi said, “Only several weeks after opening of the assembly, Iranian experts and professionals in children’s and young adult literature are dispatched to Afghanistan by Alhoda in order to train the members of the association. Moreover, the products of the association will be published jointly by both Alhoda and Afghan publishers.”
“Rewriting the old literary works, especially for children and young adults, in Afghanistan along with pictures drawn by Afghan illustrators is among the initial works of the association,” he added.
For shedding more lights on similarities and differences between Afghanistan Children’s and Young Adult Association and Iranian Association of Writers for Children and Youth, Shahabadi said, “The Iranian association is a guild, while its Afghan counterpart is mostly a producing unit. The objective in Afghanistan is establishing a unique literature for children but the objective in Iran is very broad which needs guild sponsors. On the other hand, the Iranian association’s activities are based on writing and composing while the Afghan association has defined its activities based on illustrating.”
He also underlined that Alhoda will try its best to build a relation between all relevant Iranian entities of children literature and Afghanistan Children’s and Young Adult Literary Association.
According to Shahabadi remarks Afghanistan Children’s and Young Adult Association holds its gatherings every week which they are attended by members and they talk about their works and writings.
To conclude his remarks, Shahabadi said, “In a meeting with the chancellor of Dari Language Department of Kabul University, a curriculum of “Children literature” was suggested to be taught to students of Persian Literature major. They are analyzing this issue now and they will announce the results very soon.”
