The Hindu Business Line : A new venue, after 31 years

Fair facts
The book fair was inaugurated by the eminent Australian writer Thomas Keneally, who also delivered the Ashok Sarkar Memorial Lecture.
The fair was held in the Salt Lake Stadium grounds instead of the Kolkata Maidan due to a High Court ruling.
The US would be the Partner country for next year's book fair.
This time the fair, apart from the regular stalls, featured an IT park.
Nearly all European scientific franchisees participate, including the OUP, Cambridge University Press, Kluwer and Springer Verlag

BOOKS GALORE: A scene at the Kolkata Book Fair.

The 32nd edition of the much awaited Kolkata Book Fair 2007, which this time got shifted to the Salt Lake Stadium grounds on the EM Bypass Road from the popular Kolkata Maidan site in central Kolkata, has attracted 650 booksellers and publishers from around the country and abroad.

Once Calcutta Book Fair, now renamed Kolkata Book Fair, and officially "Kolkata Boi Mela" is a winter fair, and is said to be the largest and most attended Book Fair in Asia. It is recognised so by the International Publishers' Association, Geneva.

Primarily aimed at the general reading public rather than the wholesalers-distributors, the Kolkata edition is listed after the Frankfurt Book Fair and the London Book Fair as being among the largest attended. And like any other mega fair in Kolkata, the Book Fair, an inseparable part of Kolkata folklore, too has its fair share of picnickers and small vendors besides song writers, budding poets, singing minstrels and other book lovers.

Unique ambience

In short, it carries a unique ambience which the Kolkata intellectuals feel cannot be replicated anywhere else.

The 32nd edition, inaugurated on February 9 at the new venue, got off to a sluggish start, or according to some a somewhat slushy start because of the sudden unseasonal rains early last week, but picked up speed around the February 15, and is now enjoying full crowds. The Book Fair, which usually lasts for 12 days, has this time got extended by four more days to February 25.

The focal theme and partner country for this year is Australia.

Controversies

Dogged by controversy from the very beginning, the High Court has forbidden the Publishers and Booksellers' Guild from holding the fair at the Maidan, which has been the venue of the Fair for the last 31 years. Despite the two years given to the organizers to find an alternative permanent site for the Fair, not much progress has been made essentially because Kolkata city lacks a large Convention Centre with modern facilities.

An objection on the grounds of environmental damage to the Maidan greens, arguably the lungs of the overcrowded city, was raised with regard to the 2007 Book Fair, drawing protests from various independent groups like `Save the Maidan' campaign.

Subsequently, the Guild announced the rescheduling of the Fair, from February 9 to 21, and then up to February 25, at the Salt Lake stadium grounds, some 12-13 km away from the maidan site.

Record crowds expected

Talking to Business Line, Prof Anil Acharya, one of the senior officials of the Guild, and editor of Bookline, the newsletter of the Guild, said around February 15, the crowds had picked up and that record crowds were expected this year too. He said the frontage of the Guild building, which houses the auditorium, business hall and other facilities, this time has been designed as a replica of the famous Serampore College of Bengal, established in 1818.

Both the inaugural and the Ashok Sarkar Memorial lectures were delivered by Mr Thomas Keneally, the Sydney-born celebrated author of Schindler's Ark (made into a memorable film titled Schindler's List by Steven Spielberg in 1993). Mr Acharya said one of the unique features of this year's Book Fair was the display of books on American Black Literature. He said Mr Henry Jardine, participating at the inaugural function, has already announced that the US would be the Partner country for the 33rd edition of the Kolkata Book Fair in 2008.

He said since 2006, the organizers have set up an International Business Hall, where the different literary agents from abroad and the publishers of our country can negotiate on issues such as copyright, translation rights and other business prospects of their publications. It is learnt that the Guild has already prepared a `Rights Catalogue' of West Bengal.

Other features

Asked on the other features of the current year's Fair, Mr Acharya said all regular features like Monte Marte (the artists Village), except the children's books pavilion, have been included. The Book Fair, besides the usual stalls including that of the Little Magazines, this time has an IT Park. Among the regulars are the Food Park, Book Kiosks, bank, police camp, fire brigade, security centre, first aid centre, etc. Oriental Insurance Company is the official insurer and United Bank of India the official banker of the Kolkata Book Fair.

Most book stalls keep English and Bengali books, and most of the American and British publishers are represented by their Indian agents at the Fair. According to Guild officials, some 40 per cent of the stalls sell foreign publishers' books. Among the popular Bengali publishers are Ananda Publishers, Deb Sahitya Kutir and Mitra Ghosh Publishers, and English language books are displayed by publishers like Rupa and Co and Penguin India, Seagull Books and Timely Books.

A memorable event of the book fairs of the past was the `Book Bazaar', an auction held on the last day of the Fair to clear the remaining stock, and where you can pick up a gem for a song, has since been discontinued.

Mr Acharya said nearly all European scientific or corresponding franchisees participate in the Book Fair, including the Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Kluwer and Springer Verlag. France and Bangladesh, among foreign participants have large pavilions, and typically, the chief guest is from the theme country. And that is how the Australian author, Mr Keneally was invited to grace this year's opening and also deliver the Ashok Sarkar Memorial Lecture. The theme country is also given a stall at the Fair ground, and many bookshops display books based on the fair theme.

Some of the noted dignitaries who have inaugurated the Book Fair in the past were Gunter Grass and Richard Dawkins.

The international participants include EU, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Macmillan (UK), Oxford Pakistan, Sweden, Latin America, WHO and World Bank. Many of the hallowed Kolkata institutions, which have their own press or publishing house, like the Indian Museum, Asiatic Society, survey institutions like Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India, and universities like Calcutta University and Jadavpur University, also participate.

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