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Book fair grows bigger, better
IT?S TIME for bookworms to crawl out for more fodder. The ten-day National Book Fair ?06 that begins on September 1 at Balrampur Gardens, Ashok Marg will be the biggest book fair in Lucknow ever.
IT’S TIME for bookworms to crawl out for more fodder. The ten-day National Book Fair ’06 that begins on September 1 at Balrampur Gardens, Ashok Marg will be the biggest book fair in Lucknow ever.
There will be more than hundred stalls of leading publishers, distributors, and booksellers who would arrive with thousands of titles in Hindi, English and Urdu. Apart from the books—that will be everywhere in the fair—there will be number of literary events too. There will be a special programme held on the occasion of Teachers’ Day that is falling during the fair.
Adhering to international standards a fire safe hangar has been set up to avoid Meerut-like mishaps.
In terms of sales as well as numbers of stalls the figure has been rising every year since 2003. It’s apparent that the book fair that has become an annual feature in city’s cultural calendar is making love for books rise among people here, said Devraj Arora, the coordinator for the fair.
The book fair is being organised in Lucknow by the Federation of Publishers’ and Booksellers’ Association in India (FPBAI), New Delhi since 2003. “In the first fair, there were just 65 stalls. In the second year, the stalls rose to 85. Last year, there were 100 stalls and this year we have bookings for 110 stalls. This time, we cannot make it grow bigger since the venue and the hangars we had planned cannot accommodate any more.
There was sale of Rs 25 lakh in the first year and the sale went up to Rs 75 lakh last year. This time we hope to see it cross the Rs 1-crore mark,” said Arora at a press conference by FPBAI. “Only aluminum sheets will be used for hangar. We are fulfilling fire safety norms. There will be more exit points,” said Manoj Singh Chandel.
Eminent poet Gopal Das Neeraj will inaugurate the fair. Preparations have begun at the Balrampur Gardens for the fair.
