Thousands of book lovers today converged at Pragati Maidan here to browse through, and take their pick of, nearly 700 titles published by around 75 publishers across the country. The nine-day fair, which will end on February 7, is the biggest book fair in the Afro-Asian region and attracts exhibitors both from India and abroad. This year, it has also added a digital flavour this year with e-book readers from Sony and Kindle on display.
Spread over 42,000 square metres with 2,400 stalls, the 19th edition of the biennial New Delhi World Book Fair is showcasing books from almost 1,200 Indian and foreign publishers. Organised by the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s National Book Trust (NBT), the theme of this year is ‘Reading Our Common Wealth: An International Rights Exhibition of Books on Sports’. The theme is in keeping with the 19th Commonwealth Games 2010, which are to be held in Delhi.
“Another highlight of the fair is a special International Rights catalogue with bibliographic and copyright details of 550 titles. The idea is to exchange copyrights about books on sports among publishers so that a wider understanding about sports culture can be arrived at,” NBT Director Nuzhat Hassan told Business Standard.
“The book fair is an awaited event as it gets attention from everywhere. It is a selling fare and many people look for books as they are priced affordably and offer a range of variety,” added Hassan, who expects a big boost in sales despite the recession increasing the price of books.
Hassan had seen a 70 per cent rise in sales in the book fair that was held in 2008, compared with the previous years. “The fair is professionally organised and we invite all major schools and libraries to the event. The number of libraries that come here to buy and stock books has increased over the years,” she added.
If you’re a book lover, it can seldom get better than this.
