The popularity of the Kolkata Book Fair was seminal in India being nominated the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2006, according to the Frankfurt Book Fair organizers.[citation needed] The book fair has been celebrated in theatre, literature, songs and limericks in Kolkata.
The fair typically overlaps with the Hindu festival of Saraswati Puja. Saraswati is the Goddess of Learning, and hence many Hindu households observe the day by worshiping books on that day and not touching books for any other purpose. This practice causes a lower footfall on the corresponding day in the book fair.
Essay On Book Fair In Bengali Language
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Since year 2009, the fair has been held in its new location at Milan Mela near Science City on E.M. Bypass. The initial apprehension about reduced attendance at the new site has been proven wrong. Millions visited the book fair in 2009.
Conservation problems for the Victoria Memorial include high dust pollution, which is often accentuated by public fairs on the Maidan. The Kolkata High Court's 2004 decision to move all public fairs to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass has not been greeted with enthusiasm by fair organizers due to the present location being in the heart of Kolkata, and being very well serviced by public transport. The book fair and a few other fairs, however, were granted special permission by the Kolkata High Court to continue holding the fair on the Maidan in 2005 and 2006. However, the choice of Maidan as the annual venue for the book fair is no longer certain.
However, many Kolkatans feel that the fair will lose its ambience if it is held indoors or away from the Maidan, which is a vast stretch of green in the heart of the city. After a yearlong uncertainty, the world's largest non-trade book fair, settled for Park Circus Maidan to host the literary carnival in 2008.
However, organisers of Asia's biggest book fair remained apprehensive, keeping in mind the disgrace in January 2007 when the Kolkata High Court did not allow them to host the fair at the Maidan on environmental grounds. The Publishers and Booksellers Guild had to shift the most-awaited cultural event to Salt Lake in 2007 after the city's green brigade won a legal battle to block the fair at the Maidan.
According to an organizer of the event, English books are seen as a status symbol, and are sometimes carried by people who don't even know English. Sometimes parents will encourage their children to read books in English, rather than their native language.[9]
The 37th International Kolkata Book Fair 2013 was inaugurated on 26 January 2013 and stayed operational from 30 January to 10 February 2013. The focal theme this year was "Bangladesh". Nearly 1.9 million book lovers visited this fair.The duration of the 2013 Kolkata Book Fair was extended by three days, following a request from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, to help small and medium-sized publishers.The 37th edition of the popular fair started on 26 January in the state capital instead of 29 January and ended on 10 February as scheduled earlier.The fair did a business of over Rs.20 crore.Besides the focus country of Bangladesh, Britain, the US, Italy, Vietnam, China, Israel and Costa Rica set up book pavilions at the fair.Also, Nobel laureates, writers, dramatists and musicians from various countries took part in the Kolkata Literary Meet to mark the centenary of poet-writer Rabindranath Tagore winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.Iconic Bengali writer Sunil Gangopadhyay, who died in October 2013, was remembered at the event through speeches and an award instituted in his memory.[15][16]
Kolkata Book Fair 2012 was also opened by the Chief Minister on 24 January 2012. After many years, the former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was not part of the event, which is close to his heart. This is the first time that a book fair was inaugurated in the presence of a Woman Chief Minister.
A large part of the intellectuals, authors, editors, journalists and book lovers, including Sunil Gangopadhyay, Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Samaresh Majumder, Suchitra Bhattacharya, Buddhadev Guha, Mrinal Sen, the Mayor of Kolkata, turned up at the Maidan venue on 31 January, the day of the inauguration of the fair, to protest the Kolkata High Court order banning the fair, and to symbolically inaugurate the Kolkata Book Fair. This was to show that the spirit of people supporting the fair cannot be killed.
The 2009 book fair at Milan Mela Maidan was a gala success, according to the figures published by the organizing committee. In 2010 Inauguration Honorable Chief Minister of West Bengal Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya remarked, "Some people are against the Book Fair in the name of environment."[22] The Book Fair is sponsored by the Publishers Guild, a business forum.
An eminent environmentalist moved the Calcutta High Court claiming that preparation for the Kolkata Book Fair was leading to pollution of the Brigade Parade Ground area, considered to be the lung of the metropolis.Subhas Dutta placed before a division bench, presided by justice Asim Banerjee, 30 photographs which he claimed were proof of the digging and spoiling of the ground by contractors and workers setting up the showrooms and book fair offices. Dutta claimed trenches had been dug to place cables and to prepare service privies, affecting the environmental balance of the ground, and alleged that the State Government had not taken any action in this regard. The High Court directed early that the environmental balance of the brigade parade ground must be kept intact and the greenery maintained for the sake of the people's health. It had also directed that prior permission of the military authorities, which own the ground, was necessary before the State Government granted permission for any usage of the ground by any organisation.[26]
The 2005 Kolkata Book Fair was held over an area of 800,000 sq ft (75,330 sq m), with a stall cover area of 200,000 sq.ft. 535 book stalls took part in the fair. Footfall recorded was over 14 lakhs. Single-day sales on the final day exceeded Rs.2 million.[citation needed]
Most bookstalls in the book fair keep English and Bengali books. Popular book stalls include Ananda Publishers, Dey's Publishing, Deb Sahitya Kutir, and Mitra Ghosh Publishers, Pratibhas, Punashcha, Sishu Sahitya Samsad, Deep Prakashan, Tuli Kalam, Bhasha o Sahitya, Maondol Book House, Saraswato Library - among Bengali language book shops and Timely Books, Seagull Books, Rupa & Co., Penguin India, Tata Mcgraw-Hill - among English language book shops.
The fair's diplomatic mission stalls display and sell books from their countries. The British Council, United States Information Service, and Alliance française typically host stalls. The European Union, Bangladesh and several Latin American embassies have hosted stalls in recent years.
The initial rule that only publishers, and not institutions which just sold or distributed books but did not publish any books, can participate in the fair has been waved in the 2000s. This rule often forced small distributors to bring out a token publication just to be able to participate in the fair.
In 2014, Wikipedia made its first appearance at the Kolkata Book fair, launching its campaign to enthuse people to become regular contributors to its site.[13]It booked a stall and lined up an awareness programme to sign up volunteers. Incidentally, Kolkata fares poorly when it comes to contributing to the world's biggest online encyclopedia. As of 2013, the city had only seven senior contributors and some volunteers. Wikipedia needs people from Kolkata to contribute voluntarily not only to the mother website but also to its Bengali language version of Wikipedia. The Book Fair authorities have already sealed the deal and are looking forward to this heavyweight participant.[30]
Starting from the 1990s, the book fair has been themed annually, typically on a country - on the lines of the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The theme country embassy is typically given a stall at the fairground centre, and many book shops theme their collections based on the fair theme. The temporary gates of the fair are designed according to the theme, on the basis of a design competition among Kolkata students.
A large fire in 1997 destroyed over one third of the fair, burnt over 100,000 books and caused the death of a visitor (Jiten Seal), who suffered a heart attack brought on by the ensuing stampede. Stricter fire laws, construction laws, and prohibition of open flames in the fair ground were instituted in the wake of the disaster, and insurance for stall holders was made compulsory. A massive downpour in 1998 also resulted in a lot of book damage, but the insurance laws made sure that stall owners did not suffer financial damage. The popularity of the fair has continued to grow despite these two setbacks. In both cases, the fair recovered and continued after a damage repair break.
There are two auditoriums named after Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose (Hall 1) and Sri Aurobindo Ghosh (Hall 2), that are primarily housing English publications. At the International complex, you will find bookstalls from different countries, like the USA, Italy, Japan, Mexico, France and Iran, which have joined the fair for the first time.
A true Kolkata Book Fair regular knows that the book fair is not just about books but so much more. There are several cultural events and shows that are held throughout the day at the auditorium, including book launches, music events, dance events and more. The open stage Mukta Mancha is another venue for all the cultural activities. This year, the stage has been dedicated to the legendary actor, late Soumitra Chatterjee.
The small town in West Bengal, India, where I grew up had nothing going for it when it came to entertainment. The parks were few, movie theatres shabby, and malls and coffee shops non-existent. It was a rather drab place to be as a teenager, even though I personally did not mind much. I was content to spend lazy afternoons sitting in the window box of my room with a book, looking up only to gaze at the colorful winged inhabitants of the small tree grove formed by the garden of our house and those of three of our closest neighbors. This changed for seven to ten days every year, when my bookish interests aligned with a lively, festive space in the form of the annual book fair. 2ff7e9595c
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