World Book Fair: All for knowledge and knowledge for all

The World Book Fair is being organised at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi from February 15 to February 23, 2014. The event is showcasing rare and antique books and attracting a number of books lovers.  (Pictures by Shekhar Kumar Ghosh. Text : PTI & IANS)

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated  the fair. Spread across nine halls of Pragati Maidan, the fair has around 25 countries participating. Over 2,000 stalls have been erected catering to different genres of books like children's books, e-books, educational books, books on science and technology, and on social sciences and humanities.

President Pranab Mukherjee said book fairs remind people that the country's history has always celebrated the "argumentative" Indian.

"Book fairs such as this should remind us that our history and traditions have always celebrated the 'argumentative' Indian and not the 'intolerant' Indian," Mukherjee said.

The President appreciated this effort and said children should enrich themselves with the country's rich literary culture.

Rare books, some of which are now out of print and written several decades ago, on subjects ranging from history, geography, architecture and politics are available at select stalls in the  fair.

"Rare books are available nowhere now. All these books are rare and antique. Some of them even have the writer's signature on it," says Sushil Kumar Jaitley, who has put up one such stall.

A book titled 'Memories of the Archaeological Survey of India' written around 1925 is one of the rare books that Jaitley has put up on sale. The book is priced at Rs 1200.

Author Welles Hangen's "After Nehru, Who?" which has the writer's signature and message on the book, is another such rare books that is up for sale at Rs 4,000.

"Though people may not buy the books, but at least they can come here and take a look at these rare collections which one would not find anywhere now," says Jaitley.

Over 25 countries are taking part in the fair, and this year's focus is children's literature with the theme "Kathasagara: Celebrating Children's Literature". Entry to the fair is Rs 20 for adults and Rs 10 for children.
 

Meanwhile, book stalls offering books at the price of Rs 100 were seen to attract crowds at the Fair. Books by Dan Browne, Thomas Hardy, T S Eliot, Jane Austen, Rudyard Kipling, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain and many others apart from non-fiction, classics and general books were priced at Rs 100 each.

Apart from regular exhibitors, there will be panel discussions, workshops, interactive sessions and a spacious children's zone to serve to the younger audience's needs.

Children, teachers and educational activists have come under one roof to deliberate on topics like "Need for Classroom Libraries", "What Do Children Read?" and "Issues in Contemporary Indian Children's Literature".

To promote Indian writing overseas, the organisers have a "Guest of Honour Country" section where a nation gets an exclusive opportunity to conduct discussions and promote its literature. This year, Poland is the guest country and its 25 delegates comprising authors and illustrators are present at the fair.

One of the highlights will be presence of storyteller and children's much-loved author Ruskin Bond at the event. He will also interact with the audience during one of the sessions.

 Publishers hold discussion at the fair.

A visitor at the Fair said the common people may not buy rare antique books because they are pricey. "But such rare books have to be preserved," he said.

A stall selling rare books has collections of old editions of religious texts. "We have very old editions of Manusmritis, rare poetry collections of the famous Punjabi Sufi poet Bulleh Shah and many more," says the stall owner.

Books written by various other Pakistani scholars like Rehan Ali Yusufi, Mohammed Rafi Mufti, Abu Yahya are also available.

"We got lots of books from here as the price is extremely reasonable. We plan to buy more," says Esha, a visitor.

Arihant Book Distributor, Student Book Centre, Shivangi Book International are some of the stalls offering books at Rs 100.

"It isn't just a business platform, but we want to create a reading movement in the country. Hence, we have sent circulars to all schools...," National Book Trust (NBT) director M.A. Sikandar said at a press conference.

"Indian languages are a rich treasure house of knowledge and it has to be taken overseas. We are exploring all possible ways to take Indian writings abroad," said NBT chairman A. Sethumadhavan.

The inaugural edition of Lit Hive 2014, an initiative of Lit India Movement and supported by National Book Trust , saw  visitors at the fair getting a chance to meet and listen to some of the well-known names from the literary world like Devdutt Pattanaik, Rashmi Bansal, Advaita Kala, Hussain Zaidi, Madhuri Banerjee, Ravinder Singh, Anna Vetticad and Christopher Doyle.

On 16 February, a session 'Bubble-gum Feminism - Fad or Reality' with yoga teacher-author Ira Trivedi, Banerjee, best-selling teenage author Nikita Singh and Rohit Gore was organised at the fair.

On February 23, some interesting sessions like 'The Dharnafication of Delhi' with author-journalists Jerry Pinto and Arunava Sinha and 'Why Do We Vote' featuring journalists Nilanjan Mukhopadhyaya, Amit Kapoor and Vinod Dua are scheduled to take place.

Visitors throng the stalls selling cookery books at the fair.

A young girl reads a book at a stall at the book fair.

 Young readers look at books showcased at a stall at the World Book Fair.

Two girls who don't seem to share the idea that reading is fun to learn.

Business and management books are always a big draw at the fair.

The book fair has attracted all kinds of unusual book lovers.

A Kindle reader is slowly entering into the reading habits of the young.

Shop till you drop: Two girls with their shopping bags outside the Penguin stall.