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The 40th edition of the International Kolkata Book Fair – the world’s largest non-trade fair – is all set to bring to life a slice of history. The history of: Kolkata’s love affair with books.
In a first of its kind, the Publishers and Booksellers Guild – organisers of the International Kolkata Book Fair – will organise a ‘heritage walk’ that takes the person through the 39-year-old journey of the fair.
According to Sudhangshu Dey, Director, Publishers & Booksellers Guild, the walk will see installations depicting the landmark achievements of the book-fair including the inception of the Guild at the iconic (India) Coffee House of Kolkata – a favourite haunt of intellectuals and book lovers in the city.
“The heritage walk will be organised within the fair grounds. The idea is to connect the younger generation with the fair. This is our first year with such an experiment. Based on the response, we might look at different variations in the coming years,” Dey told BusinessLine.
New Initiatives
Incidentally, the fair is also expected to go hi-tech this year.
An application (mobile app) that can be downloaded on smart-phones to locate the book stalls. Around 600 (book) stalls and 200 ‘little magazines’ will be there in the 40th edition of the fair.
This apart, special shuttle buses will ply to and from the fair grounds to the nearest point in central Kolkata.
Special arrangements have also been made with taxi-aggregrator, Ola. The taxi aggregrator will be given space to park its vehicles at the fair car parking lot.
Increased Business
In terms of business, the Guild expects at least 10 per cent rise in book sales. Last year, the fair did business to the tune of Rs 20 crore. “An atleast 10 per cent growth in book sales are expected this year,” Dey said.
Footfalls too are expected to exceed last year’s count of 18 lakh.
Bolivia will be the theme country of this year’s book fair. Bolivian author, Magela Baudoin will be the chief guest. The book fair is scheduled for inauguration on January 25 by the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee.
The fair will, however, start from January 27 till February 7.
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