The 47th edition of Kolkata International Book Fair concluded this evening with great enthusiasm.
The biggest book fair in the world in terms of footfall witnessed people across age visiting the Boi Mela Prangan in Salt Lake.
The theme country was the United Kingdom, which coincided with the British Council’s 75th year in India. Around 50 publishing houses from Bangladesh took part in the fair along with Spain, France, Germany, the United States among others. The Publishers and Book Sellers Guild had celebrated Children’s Day when a book on Pandav Goyenda by Sasthipada Chattopadhyay was distributed free of cost. Senior citizen’s day was also observed. Special arrangements were made to take the book lovers to the mela ground and buses were kept ready at important intersections.
There were around 2.7 lakh people visiting the UK pavilion in the past few days. The exciting educational and cultural programme featured 20 renowned UK authors and speakers participating in 35 events across the book fair, 2 literature festivals, and various schools and colleges. “The kids especially enjoyed the interactive doodle wall and the bookmark art sessions,” Dr Debanjan Chakrabarti, director east and northeast India, British Council.
There were around 1000 stalls for the publishers, big and small and little magazines. There were long queues of book lovers outside the stalls set up by the publishers from Bangladesh. Ramakrishna Vivekananda Vedanta literature had attracted book lovers.
Gaurav Sharma, IPS, Commissioner of Police, Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate, said, “Our organisation diligently ensured the prevention of any issues throughout the event. I am pleased to report that on the final day, everything transpired smoothly, with no instances of harassment, eve-teasing, pickpocketing or theft. A dedicated team of 1,500 men and women worked tirelessly to make the event a success and guarantee the safety of attendees.”
A new publishing house Bishwargo had brought out books having the shape of cell phones. This had attracted young readers. There were books on the Rodda Rifle loot by Amit Nath. Memoirs of Gyanadanandini Debi, wife of Satyendranath Tagore, the first ICS officer and told to their daughter Indira Debi Chaudhurani was the hot favourite.