The Book Fair will be permanently held at Central Park, even after the Milan Mela complex is ready to host fairs again from next year.
The request to allow the Book Fair to continue in Salt Lake was made by the secretary of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild Tridib Chatterjee in his address at the inauguration of the 45th Kolkata International Book Fair on Monday. “We have seen that we are getting a higher footfall and better sales — almost one and half times more — in Salt Lake. The space here is also more than that at Milan Mela,” he explained.
This is the fifth time that the book fair is happening in Salt Lake. In 2007, it was hosted in the Salt Lake stadium complex. After modernisation work started at the Milan Mela complex, the Book Fair was temporarily shifted to Central Park in 2018, where it was held consecutively till 2020. The shift now got the seal of permanence.
“Last year was the second time that the Book Fair could not be held, as a precaution against Covid-19 spread. In 2008, there was a break for the first time when we were barred from using the Park Circus Maidan at the last moment by a court order,” Chatterjee said.
Mamata Banerjee hands over the CESC Dr Rama Prasad Goenka Srishti Samman to author Sanjib Chattopadhyay Bishwarup Dutta
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee pointed out that the Milan Mela complex should be ready by March-April but the Guild, being a private body, was free to take its own decision about its venue. “If you continue here, we can rename the fairground as Boi Mela Prangan,” she offered.
Speaking to The Telegraph Salt Lake, Chatterjee later pointed out that holding the book fair in Salt Lake also allowed the focus to be on books. “There are only 15 food stalls this time, compared to 40-50 at Milan Mela. There are enough eat-out options all around the ground, including at City Centre. So there are less takers for food stalls. This spares us the jibes of being labelled a food fair,” he said.
In view of the prevailing pandemic scenario, the stall sizes, he said, had been reduced by 35 per cent. Large stalls, like Dey’s Publishing and Ananda Publishers, which used to book 1,600sq ft, have got 1,000 sq ft this time. Medium-sized ones, like his Patra Bharati, have been allotted 800sq ft in place of 1,200sq ft. This reduction has resulted in wider lanes, allowing visitors to move freely, maintaining physical distance.
The main passage has gone up in width from 60ft to almost 80ft, he pointed out.
One of the three gates dedicated to Sheikh Mujib Sudeshna Banerjee
On and offline
The fair is being held for the first time in a hybrid mode, with many of the programmes happening at the SBI auditorium and elsewhere being webcast on the Guild’s and the Kolkata International Book Fair 2022 Facebook pages.
The Book Fair now has an official website kolkatabookfair.net which is also streaming the programmes.
The sessions at the Kolkata Literature Festival, which will be held on March 11 and 12 on the fair premises, will also be webcast, organisers said.
“Anyone staying abroad can enjoy the book fair by joining us online,” Chatterjee said.
A signage atop the Bangladesh pavilion. Sudeshna Banerjee
Author feted
At the inauguration, 87-year-old author Sanjib Chattopadhyay was conferred with the CESC Dr Rama Prasad Goenka Srishti Samman. The trophy and a cheque for Rs 1 lakh were handed to him by the chief minister on behalf of CESC.
The veteran author delivered an address that traversed a serious analysis of Ramakrishna Paramhansa’s philosophy, emotional words on cultural ties with Bangladesh as also a light-hearted reference to artist Shuvaprasanna’s paintings of crows.
The inauguration was attended by a delegation from Bangladesh, which is the theme country this year. The delegation included minister for cultural affairs K.M. Khalid and eminent author and president of Bangla Akademi, Dhaka, Selina Hossain.
Bangladesh is a theme country for the third time after 2000 and 2013. The birth centenary of the first President of Bangladesh Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is also being commemorated in the stall decor and three of the nine gates. The 4,700sq ft pavilion has 44 publishers in attendance.
Every day, a lottery is being held with the bills of visitors who are buying books worth more than Rs 1,000. Fifteen winners are being gifted vouchers worth Rs 1,000 to be redeemed at the fair. For this, the buyers have to deposit their bills at the CESC counter next to the Press Corner before 7pm, when the lottery takes place.
Share your experience of visiting the Book Fair this year. Write to The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001 or email to saltlake@abp.in