The literary heaven

Imagine this! You are a book lover and you are surrounded by books all around you. From the likes of Atwood to Archer and Premchand to Sudha Murthy, the list is endless. But, what if we told you that this dream is aliving reality? As absurd as it may seem, the live example is the ongoing World Book Fair organised by the National Book Trust is currently going on at Pragati Maidan.

This event is almost like a tradition for a book lover residing in the capital every year and this year has been no different. This year, it was more than just a book affair as the number of exhibitors on display were more than 600, where there are all kinds of books be it from fiction to non-fiction, self-help books to reference books and even books for school, college andexamination purposes and many more.  Apart from the 1300 stalls of books on display, the exhibition also acts as a cultural hub for the visitors as the exhibition also has a children’s pavilion that conducts workshops, seminars and storytelling sessions.

The exhibition also has a foreign pavilion where books from over 15countries and languages are also on display. Speaking to Kanchan Wanchoo Sharma, the spokesperson, she says, “The increasing footfall every year shows that reading is going nowhere — books are going nowhere. We are all book lovers here.” She believes that the fair is atonic for people to pick up a reading habit. She adds, “We just don’t have a book bazar where we just sell books. In order to make sure that people read more, we have interactive sessions with authors for them.” To get an exhibitor’s perspective, Sameer Mahale, general manager, sales, Penguin Random House expresses that this event is something that they look forward to every year. “The exhibition gives us an opportunity to showcaseour complete range as booksellers don’t keep the complete range,” he says. He expresses that it is the only opportunity for an exhibitor to interact with his or her customers. He adds, “We get to know what they like or don’t like. We always look forward
to interacting with our customers and recommend them what books to read.” Apart from that, there are a few stalls where you can get classics at pocket-friendly prices. The price ranges from `50 for one book to `100 forthree books. Sreenath Hussain, an ardent book lover, visits the exhibition for two reasons. He points out, “It gives you an opportunity to see a lot of books from various publishers especially the new releases. You get excellent and rare books at cheap rates.” Though he mostly reads non-fiction, he does have an eye out for one good novel too and in the book fair, there is no limit to the number of books he buys. “If I see any good book, I will buy,” he adds.

The book fair is ongoing till January 12