tahereh bashirizadeh

Since its establishment in the 1960s, the Children’s Book Council(CBC) has endeavored to elevate Iranian children’s literature by setting criteria for evaluating and selecting the best works. Given the significance of literary awards and distinguished books in shaping readers’ minds and guiding the literary community, this paper examines the criteria set forth by this institution and the extent to which they align with the award-winning works of the 1970s. This analysis critically evaluates the Council’s performance during this influential decade and revisits a pivotal period in the history of children’s and young adult literature, as well as the history of Persian poetry criticism. During this decade, three works by Mahmoud Kiyanoush—The Green Indian Parrot, Silver-Winged Golden Beak, and The Garden of Stars—were selected by the Council. The selection of three works by Kiyanoush indicates that the Council, both theoretically and in its practical application of production and creation criteria, was influenced by this poet’s ideas. Based on the Council’s reviews and the findings of this research, the criteria for poetry criticism underwent significant changes in this decade compared to the previous one. A reliance on artistic originality and poetic essence, as well as a focus on a child’s perspective, were the most important criteria during this period. This approach to children’s poetry played a crucial role in the transformations of subsequent decades.