Christmas came early at the Palmerston North City Library, multicultural services librarian Parrill Stribling said after getting two boxes of books from the Iranian Embassy.
Iran is keen to play a full part in Palmerston North's next Festival of Cultures in April, Iran's Deputy Ambassador to New Zealand Ali Maamati said during a visit to the City Library on Friday. Maamati had just donated two boxes of books about Iran to the library, doubling its Farsi (Persian) collection. Later he made a tour of the city facility and shared his admiration of New Zealand libraries. They were more than book repositories, but places of learning, friendship and social interaction, he said. In the absence of city librarian Anthony Lewis, he was met by multicultural services librarian Parrill Stribling and library outreach head Jay Robinson. "We are very pleased to have some collaboration with the Palmerston North City Council and the opportunity to present a selection of books about Iran to Palmerston North," Maamati said. "Books are a good way to become familiar with Iran's art and society and also enhance the understanding between cultures." His embassy recently screened Iranian movies in Christchurch and he would be interested in a similar event for Palmerston North, he said. When told of the annual Festival of Cultures in February, he was interested in bringing the movies to the city then. In the discussion that followed, it was suggested there was an opportunity to introduce music and dance at the festival as well. Stribling described the gift of about 35 books as "wonderful". "Some of these books are very hard to get - particularly the books of poetry. I'm very pleased by the whole thing."
