The festival has been organized by a group of Europeans and the main objective is to introduce the European children's culture to non-EU countries.

To obtain funding, organizers of any festival in Europe should submit their proposals to the director-general for culture and education in their country.

At least three EU member states are required to participate in the project which should present sufficient evidence to prove they have the qualifications to hold the proposed festival.

Europe-Iran Children's Literary Festival has been organized by the Culture Science X-Change, the Austrian Cultural Forum in Tehran, the Swedish Institute, Culture 2000 and Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others.

Moreover, the event is sponsored by the Children's Book Council of Iran, Danish Center for Culture and Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, the Flemish Literature Fund and the Royal Dutch Airlines, among others.

Various institutions and individuals from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, Iran are participating in the ongoing festival.

Stephan Schwarz, an architect from Austria, is one of the organizers of the festival.

The project manager of the Swedish Institute's Department of Culture and Society, Sylvia Augustinsson, who specializes in children's culture, said: "This is the first time in history that the culture and books of children of the world are being introduced in Iran."

The Swedish author, Austrid Lindgren, whose book "Pipi Longstocking" is a favorite of Swedish children, sponsored many debates on children's rights in the early '70s.

According to Lindren, Sweden is the first country to pass laws on children's rights.

Lindgren, after she passed away on March 8, 2002, was honored with a glorious burial.

Several workshops for children are held every morning and afternoon for the duration of this festival. Groups of children from various schools chosen ccording to a pre-scheduled program are participating.

At the literature workshop, foreign and Iranian elementary school teachers work with the child participants in different groups. The teacher, by talking to the children and asking them questions, encourage them to create stories in groups.

At the painting workshop, the teachers apply various teaching methods to encourage the children to paint.

A young illustrator of children's books from Denmark, Cato Thau-Jensen, shows the children an illustrated children's book and narrates to them one of the stories in the book. Later, the children are asked to create their own stories and paint it.

An Iranian children's art instructor from CIDCYA, Anahita Fazeli Moqaddas, said that the children attending the painting workshops seemed quite excited about having the chance to see foreign books illustrated in pictures and communicating with their illustrators through a translator.