What to read during a pandemic: A case study of ‘book promotion politics’ in Iran

Highlights

• Book reading has surged since the beginning of COVID-19-imposed lockdowns.

• Iranian news websites published an unprecedented number of reading lists in 2020.

• Books about the Iraq-Iran war are disproportionately represented on these lists.

• Classic Persian literature and contemporary world literature are underrepresented.

• Political affiliations of the websites align with their book recommendations.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted almost every aspect of life. According to data from several countries, book reading has surged since the beginning of the imposed lockdowns. This situation has presented cultural mediators with an unprecedented opportunity to influence their audiences’ reading habits. The current study reports the results of a qualitative analysis of Iranian news websites’ book suggestions during March 2020, the peak of the first wave of COVID-19 in Iran. Through analysing the suggested books’ original language, publication date, genre, and publisher, the study uncovers some of the politics of book promotion in Iran. The findings revealed a high level of homogeneity among the reading suggestions in terms of original language, genre, and publishers, raising the possibility that wider government policies encourage the promotion or marginalisation of certain types of books. Fiction and nonfiction books about the Iran-Iraq War (1980–1988) dominated the suggestions, while comedy and nonpolitical mystery/thrillers were almost nonexistent. These findings and more are discussed in light of the sociopolitical context in Iran.