It was a massive turnout of bookworms today that marked the end of the 12-day-long 39th Kolkata International Book Fair held at Milan Mela ground here.
With a total sale of around Rs 20.50 crore and a footfall of about 21 lakh, a lakh more than last year's, the venue became a hangout of choice for lakhs of people, even from the outskirts of the city.
During the concluding ceremony held with the ringing of the bell, sharp at 9 pm, Publishers and Booksellers Guild Secretary Tridib Chatterjee announced that next year's book fair would be held from January 27 to February 7.
"We are not announcing the name of next year's Focal Theme Country because though it has been fixed we are yet to get the confirmation from them," Chatterjee told PTI.
The focal theme for this year's book fair, after a gap of 17 years, was Great Britain.
This year's fair celebrated the 450th birth anniversary of William Shakespeare, besides, 100th birth anniversaries of Welsh poet and writer Dylan Thomas, Irish poet W B Yeats, Indian litterateur Suniti Kumar Chattopadhyay and legendary film and stage actor Sambhu Mitra.
In fact, five Halls were named after these five great writers. Like other years there was a Special theme Gate built as a replica of British National History Museum and another gate named after Charlie Chaplin to mark the great comedian's 125th birth anniversary.
Foreign countries like Colombia, Spain, El Salvador, Peru, USA, Turkey, Vietnam, China, Japan besides France, Equador, Chile and other Latin American countries along with Bangladesh also participated in this year's Fair.
