Tuesday, March 6, 2012

New Delhi World Book Fair 2012 attracts 700,000 visitors

Jumbo Editorial Team

The 20th edition of the New Delhi World Book Fair, held in the Indian capital from February 25 to March 4, was reported to have registered more than 700,000 visitors.

Over 1,300 Indian and foreign publishers participated in the nine-day event which was organized by the National Book Trust (NBT) who hold it after every two years. It is recognized as the biggest book-event in the Afro-Asian region.

The New Delhi World Book Fair 2012, drawing huge crowds, was divided into three pavilions, rights pavilion, theme pavilion and children's pavilion with 2,500 stalls and 1,300 exhibitors belonging to Bangladesh, France, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Turkey, Spain, China, Canada, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Germany besides hosts India.

The theme pavilion, celebrating 100 years of Indian Cinema, attracted a large number of book lovers as well as cine buffs. Many film and theatre personalities like Javed Akhtar, Farooq Sheikh, Amol Palekar, Satish Kaushik, Sushma Seth, Muzaffar Ali, Shahbaz Khan participated in panel discussions and other literary activities at the pavilion.

The NBT in association with National Film Archive of India, Pune, under the section Literature that Walks, Talks and Sings screened some of the classic movies like Devdas, Pather Panchali, Umrao Jaan, Suraj Ka Satvan Ghoda, Charulata,, Uski Roti, and Athithi, were screened.

The children’s pavilion exhibited 1200 books in several languages and organized several activities for children. Activity based workshops Kabaad Se Jugaad and Aoo Jadoo Seekhein were organized.

"We organized the fair to promote book-mindedness among people and to showcase the strengths and diversity of Indian book trade with its multilingual profile. Many books on Indian cinema that document the history of Indian cinema and its influence on our society, polity and culture, were an eye-opener for most of us in the fair," M A Sikander, Director, NBT, who also launched the trust’s new website, was quoted as saying.

A special Delhi pavilion was put up to celebrate 100 years of Delhi as the capital of India in which rare paintings and photographs on the city were exhibited. A special pavilion was also set up to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore in which selected books on and by the great poet as well as posters, sketches and paintings of Tagore were exhibited.

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