Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the International Kolkata Book Fair on Thursday amid a drizzle that marred last-minute preparations for several stall owners.
The 47th edition of the fair, being held at the Boi Mela Prangan in Central Park in Salt Lake, had an early start compared to the last edition when the gates were thrown open on January 30.
The United Kingdom (UK) is the theme country for this year’s book fair, which will continue till January 31.
“I’ve been visiting the book fair for a long time. In 1995, my book — Upolobdhhi (Realisation) was published. Earlier, the fair used to be held in a small space, fuelling strong criticism because stalls would be cramped,” Mamata said. “Now the fair has a permanent address, Boi Mela Prangan, with a lot of space.”
With nine gates spread across Central Park, the book fair this time has around 1,000 stalls, the biggest so far, with representations from close to 20 countries, including the US, Spain, Italy, Bangladesh, Australia, Argentina and France.
Publishers from Germany will participate after a gap of 12 years, officials of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, the organisers of fair, said.
The Kolkata Literature Festival will be held from January 26 to 28.
“This is not the 47th Kolkata book fair but the international Kolkata book fair and the second biggest in the world. This is bigger than the London book fair,” said Alex Ellis, British high commissioner. “I feel particularly at home this afternoon because the weather brings Charles Dickens to Kolkata,” Ellis said referring to the drizzle outside.
Guild officials said the last edition of the fair witnessed about 26 lakh visitors and sales worth Rs 25 crore. The year before, 22 lakh had visited the fair and Rs 23 crore in sales. This year, the figures would be even bigger, they said.
“On behalf of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild we want a piece of land from you to set up a library, an archive of books and a guesthouse for national and international visitors,” guild president Tridib Kumar Chatterjee urged the chief minister.