A book fair will be held in Kolkata from April 16 to 25 to mark Nabo Borsho or Bengali New Year, organisers said on Thursday.
Seventy-five well-known publishers will take part in the event, named Nabo Borsho Boi Utsav. It will be organised by the Publishers and Booksellers’ Guild, which also holds the annual International Kolkata Book Fair.
The book fair will be held at Jodhpur Park area in the city for the second time. It was first held in February 2021, the guild's general secretary Tridib Chatterjee said.
“During the previous edition, the book fair did not attract crowds as the COVID pandemic was raging and curbs were in place. However, this time we hope for a better response, especially from residents of south Kolkata,” Chatterjee told PTI.
He said the organisers also hope for increased sales as compared to less than Rs 1 crore in the previous edition in 2021.
“We want to revive the tradition of gifting books on special occasions such as marriage, birthday, college farewell and Nabo Borsho. As part of the guild’s initiative to promote book purchasing and reading, we are organising such ‘mini book fairs’ across the state,” he said.
Panel discussions and seminars on contemporary issues and world literature will also be held at the event.
Books worth Rs 25.5 crore were sold during the last edition of the International Kolkata Book Fair, held from January 31 to February 12 this year, with around 26 lakh people visiting around 900 stalls.
The Nabo Borsho Boi Utsav will enable many people of south Kolkata, who could not frequent the International Kolkata Book Fair, held in Central Park in Salt Lake, around 15 km away in the northern part, to pick up their favourite titles, he added.
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