Touraj Daryaee

50th Anniversary of Kanun Touraj Daryaee

The Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, otherwise known as Kanun, was in many ways a unique cultural institution that took shape some fifty years ago in Iran. The intention was to introduce children and young adults to culture and learning, such as libraries, books, music, film and theater. Not only Tehran, but far and wide, Kanun made it possible for children throughout Iran to be introduced to these facets of culture. Those who worked at Kanun became leading artists, writers and intellectuals of the 20th and the early 21st century Iran.

Those who were brought up in Iran in the past five decades understand and appreciate the importance of Kanun, so it is befitting to have a volume in honor of all the children, young adults, women and men who were part of this great cultural center of Iran in the 20th century. This book is a visual record of the cultural output of that institution, along with several essays by those who were involved in Kanun. I hope that Kanun continues to educated and inspire succeeding generations of children who live in that land. Luckily, Kanun is active and alive, and moves at its own pace to educate Iranian children and young adults all over the country.

For reasons that are self evident, the focus of this book is on the pre-Revolutionary period of Kanun. This is because there are important figures and actors in Kanun from its inception till the 1979 Revolution now living in Orange County, California. I would like to thank Mr. Noureddin Zarrinkelk, Don Laffoon, Hossein Samakar and Reza Goharzad for making it possible to take on such a project. There are many people who are not mentioned by name here or in the book, but their place will always be known among those who lived the Kanun life. In the end I would like to thanks Mr. Majid Zarrinkelk and a host of local supporters for making the publication of this book possible. Lastly, I would like to thank Mr. Kourosh Beigpour who diligently worked on preparing this book.