Shweta Kumar’s Coming Up On The Show makes waves

Jumbo Editorial Team

Shweta Ganesh Kumar’s first fiction novel, ‘Coming Up On The Show… The Travails of a news trainee’ is now in bookstores and it has already sold more than 10'000 copies in the two months since its release.

The book that is a behind the scenes, tongue in cheek look at the broadcast industry in India has been brought out by Srishti Publishers. It traces the journey of an aspiring journalist, who finally has to remove the rose-coloured glasses from her eyes and see the grime behind the glamour of the T.V industry. Her dreams turn out harder to achieve than envisaged, but the journey itself is a roller-coaster experience.

National Award winning film director Ranjith released the book at the Calicut Press Club. The event was broadcast by Manorama News besides being covered by all the major publications in the state.

Targeted mainly at the age group from 18 onwards, this is a book, which offers a glimpse of the real world complexities and adventures that are seldom imagined by the average journalism student. And that sometimes, one’s own life turns out to be stranger than the reality shows that one sees on television.

This book is the first in a series of books titled “Coming Up On The Show” tracing the journey of Satyabhama Menon as she traverses the vast and unknown world of the Indian media.

Shweta Ganesh Kumar is a writer and a freelance travel journalist based in the Philippines. She started off as a correspondent for CNN-IBN, CNN's Indian sister channel and went on to work as a Communications officer for Greenpeace India.

After moving to the Philippines in 2009, she discovered that she and her husband suffer from terminal wanderlust, the result of which are a number of articles that were published in the New Indian Express and other publications. She is currently finding her bliss while she explores news destinations and dabbles in the world of fiction.

Bookworms get a treat in Kuala Lumpur

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Malaysia have emerged as one of the strongest economies of Asia and its capital Kuala Lumpur remains one of the most popular destinations for the tourists from all over the world.

The Kuala Lumpur International Book Fair (KLIBF) continues to be one of the most sought after events for the residents of the bustling city as well as many of those who are attracted there by the presence of the leading international publishers.

The National Book Council of Malaysia and the Malaysian Book Industry Council join hands to organise the KLIBF and they did it successfully for the 30th time recently. The KLIBF 2011 was held with great fanfare at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur from April 22 to May 1.

Due to an overwhelming response that they received from their international visitors and exhibitors during the KLIBF 2010, the organizers were prompted to hold an even bigger trade exhibition in 2011. The event lasted no less than 10 days at the Tun Razak Hall 2 of the Putra World Trade Centre.

As in previous years, the KLIBF 2011 again featured a wide range of genres from local and international publications. The international overseas companies participated enthusiastically to display their latest and best titles in KLIBF 2011 besides for trading of copyright and book licensing.

The KLIBF has been acknowledged one of the major events in the global publishing calendar, providing a networking opportunity to meet with the local and international publishing community.

Over one million visitors have reportedly been in attendance at the KLIBF every year. It is branded as the perfect place for book lovers to get the latest books and promotions from publishers around the region. Book launches, seminars, conventions, and lots of other activities are in place to suit all levels of the reading community.

Lahore International Book Fair completes Silver Jubilee

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The Silver Jubilee edition of the Lahore International Book Fair was held at Lahore Expo Centre in Johar Town, from April 7 to 11, 2011. It was inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Punjab, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, while the Punjab Governor, Sardar Latif Khosa, was the chief guest in the concluding ceremony of the five-day event.

Both the dignitaries visited different stalls and appreciated the efforts of the organizers for successfully organising the book fair and providing healthy and positive activities to the people.

As in the past, thousands of people from different walks of life, particularly teachers, students and educationists, visited the book fair in large number and explored the world of books presented by over 160 local and foreign publishers who had set up stalls there. A number of educational organisations and companies, dealing in educational and stationery items, were also participated in the book fair.

The book fair remained the main attraction for book lovers and people from academia who were happy over the presence of thousands of books on variety of topics under one roof. As usual nearly every participating publisher and bookseller offered considerable discount on books.

Books were on offer on a variety of topics, including Islam, history, education, computer and information technology, engineering, business management, medical sciences, agriculture, literature, law and children literature.

The visitors appreciated organizers of the book fair, saying the event provided them a chance to take part in a positive and healthy activity and promoted book reading.

The Lahore International Book Fair, having become a premier educational and cultural event of the city, is recognized as the largest and annually international book fair held in the country.

Lahore has been a centre for publications and todate holds that distinction as more than 80 percent of books in Pakistan and remains the centre of literary, educational and cultural activity in the country.

Seminar on Library Management held in Islamabad

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Around 50 library professionals from all over Pakistan attended the one-week training course on ‘Role of ICT in Library Management’ held in Islamabad from April 25 to 30 at AHK National Centre for Rural Development and National School of Public Policy.


Brig (retd) Amanullah, Director General, NCRD, welcomed the participants while Ikram Kayani, Director (Training), NCRD, introduced the course contents in the opening ceremony. Mohammad Saleem, Senior Librarian, Supreme Court of Pakistan, delivered a lecture on "Role of ICT & Professional Development" on the first day of training course while a few experts and software developers of ‘Libmax - Integrated library Solution Software’ delivered their lectures on the different modules of Libmax.

A field visit of COMSATS Library, Islamabad, was also made and the participants visited the different sections of the library. Raja Mohammad Ibrahim, Senior Librarian, COMSATS, delivered a comprehensive lecture on ‘User Education and 21st century libraries.’

He shared his experience about the ways and means being adopted by CIIT library team for user education and information literacy in recent years. He reckoned that the need of the hour was to emphasize the user education and information literacy programmes in various institutions and organizations.

On the last day of course, Hameedullah Khattak Librarian, NCRD gave a presentation on ‘Library Automation’ and Ikram Kayani, Director (Training), NCRD, awarded the certificated to course participants. No registration fee was charged for this course from the participants and all expenditures of training course were borne by NCRD of NSPP.

Bahria University Library launch new website

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Acclaimed as one of the leading institutions with focus on higher education, Bahria University’s Library at Islamabad campus has recently launched a new website www.library.bahria.edu.pk whose purpose is to advance the library mission, vision and values through innovative uses of technology.

Bahria University was established by the Pakistan Navy in 2000, and since then it has slowly and steadily grown into one of the leading higher education institutions in Pakistan, playing a major role in grooming future leaders.

They are a multi-campus university whose aim is to achieve the highest standards in teaching, learning and research. They offer an expanding portfolio of programmes which caters to a wide variety of interests ranging from business, computer sciences and psychology, to medical and dental health, and maritime research. The faculty and management of the university are known for taking care of their students having ambitions, dreams and passions to move up the ladder.

Historically Pakistan Navy had entered the field of education in 1980s by establishing a couple of institutes, one at Karachi and the other at Islamabad. They were designed to provide uninterrupted education up to Intermediate level for the children of naval personnel when they were transferred from one city to the other.

Over the years the two Institutes grew in size and facilities, leading to the commencement of BBA and B.Sc (CS) classes in 1995. In 1997 these programmes were further upgraded to BBA (Hons), BSC (Hons) and MBA and MSC, as evening programmes. The Institutes were known as Bahria Institute of Management and Computer Science (BIM&CS), suffixed with the location Karachi or Islamabad. The institute was upgraded to a university, the present Bahria University, in February 2000 through a Presidential Ordnance.

Sunday Book Bazaar resumes at Frere Hall in Karachi

Jumbo Editorial Team

May 8, 2011 could be described as another Red Letter Day in the annals of Karachi history as the Sunday Book Bazaar at the historic Frere Hall, also known as Bagh-e-Jinnah, was finally revived after a very long time.

The decision to resume the Sunday Book Bazaar at the Frere Hall was taken by the Community Development Department (CDD) of the City District Government Karachi (CDGK) only a few days ago and it went to their credit to have managed it so swiftly and nicely in lightening quick time.

The Sunday Book Bazaar at the Frere Hall had become one of the most popular weekly events of the metropolis when it was closed down abruptly due to security reasons.

The resumption of the Sunday Book Bazaar has certainly gladdened the hearts of the bookworms of Karachi who would definitely go there in large numbers as the word continues to spread.

Not surprisingly there were not too many stalls under the giant tent on May 8 and there was not a big crowd either but there would certainly be more vendors and more buyers in the weeks to come because huge variety of books, ranging from subjects as varied as children’s activity books to classical literature would be up for the grabs at rates lower than the ones in the market.

Those booksellers having taken the trouble of setting up stalls and not generating enough sales due to the low turnout are expected to make up in the coming weeks when the number of visitors increase manifolds and the same old enthusiasm of the Sunday Book Bazaar is revived. It seems a matter of time now.

The CDGK, who provided stalls to the vendors free of cost on May 8, have already announced that the Book Bazaar will now be held on a weekly basis every Sunday. It will be an opportunity for a larger number of publishers and booksellers to display new and second-hand books on a variety of subjects at the bazaar.

COMSATS Lahore celebrate World Book and Copyright Day in style

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COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Library Information Services Lahore, celebrated the World Book and Copyright Day 2011 on April 29. The main purpose of holding the series of activities was to develop students with wider outlook and a balanced view towards science and humanities. It also helped in achieving the ultimate goal of developing knowledgeable and compassionate citizens for the society.

COMSATS has made significant strides in the domain of education. Considering the fact that COMSATS is a relatively young organization, they have developed reasonably good libraries and a wide collection of books. They have acquired a wide collection of books of fiction, Islamic studies and general reading.

The main events of the day were Walk, Poster Competition, Gadget Competition, Departmental Publications Stalls and Library Mounted Books Exhibition.

The celebrations started with the walk at 9:45 am inaugurated by Convener Library Affairs Committee and Incharge of Academics, Dr Talat Afza, and Incharge library Information Services, Tariq Najmi. The path of the journey began from Lahore campus mosque and ended at the library. The head of all departments, faculty/staff members and a large number of students participated in the walk.

After the completion of this walk Dr Talat Afza inaugurated the Library Mounted Book Exhibition and Departmental Publications Stalls. They also watched the posters and gadgets with great interest and admired the effortsof the students.


Dr Ghulam Qamar Abbassi was the guest of honour in the concluding ceremony. Speaking on the occasion, he said that books can play an important role in our lives and we should connect with the reading, wherever we are.

The Organizing Committee of these events was praised for having done a commendable job that resulted in their success. All the members particular, Bilal Javed, Lecturer-MS, Javeria Fatima, Lecturer- MS, Amna Jahangir, Lecturer- A & D, Sadaf Ehsan, Lecturer-MS, Sardar Muhammad Zahid, Lecturer-MS, Muhammad Ishtiaq, Assistant Librarian and last but not least Khurram Shahzad, Lecturer-MS, are recognized for their brilliant work. The library staff was also credited for having made the necessary arrangements.