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19th National Book Fair thrown open to bibliophiles in Lucknow
A Lord Ram cutout book on Ayodhya, ‘Ram Ek Aastha ka Mandir’, launched by Ahmedabad-based writer Apurva Shah. Costing ₹80,000 and weighing around 56 kgs, the book has 36 pages
LUCKNOW The 19th National Book Fair, a 10-day-long event, was thrown open for bibliophiles at the Balrampur Gardens here, after its inauguration by deputy chief minister Brajesh Pathak on Friday.
Students and elders alike thronged to over 50 stalls having various genres of books. More stalls will be set up from Saturday. The theme of this year’s fair is ‘Har Ghar Pustakalay’, informed event organiser Astha Dhall.
People can visit the book fair from 11am to 9pm every day till October 2.
LIMITED AVAILABILITY OF ‘TOMB OF SAND’
This year’s Booker Prize winning book ‘Tomb of Sand’ – the English version of ‘Ret Samadhi’, written by UP born Geetanjali Shree in 2018, was seen only in a few stalls with only limited number of copies. Out of 50 stalls, only 3-4 had the translated version ‘Tomb of Sand’ by Daisy Rockwell. The Hindi version of the book ‘Ret Samadhi’ was available at three stalls.
“Due to youths’ preference for new writers, we thought this book would not sell much…also we had limited copies of it,” said one of the stall owners who came from Delhi. The original version of the book is expensive and out of stock, informed another shopkeeper.
“Coffee table books are out of demand due to children shifting to digital studies,” said Rishabh Ojha, a book seller from Delhi.
A Lord Ram cutout book on Ayodhya titled ‘Ram Ek Aastha ka Mandir’ was launched at the National Book Fair by Ahmedabad-based writer Apurva Shah, 47. The book costing ₹80,000 and weighing around 56 kgs has 36 pages.
“The book is different from others not just due to its size, but also due to how it is written,” said writer Apurva Shah. “It tells the entire story from the beginning, right from Babri Mosque demolition to the Supreme Court’s order in a very short manner with the use of original pictures from different sites of Ayodhya,” he added.
“It took two years to research the subject…I travelled to Ayodhya and other places in UP many times and met people including Champat Rai, the general secretary of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra, to finally write the book,” added Shah.
Shah has also written a similar cutout book on PM Narendra Modi, assimilating his speeches and inspirational quotes. He is currently writing another cutout shape book on the PM’s mother, Heeraben Modi.
