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regular-article-logo Wednesday, 26 February 2025

Back with the books

The fair has been made accessible by wheelchair with ramps being made mandatory for all stalls

Sudeshna Banerjee Published 31.01.25, 10:07 AM
A gate modelled after the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Germany is the focus country this year.

A gate modelled after the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Germany is the focus country this year. Pictures by Sudeshna Banerjee

If you want to reach a particular stall at the Book Fair in haste or by walking the least distance, download the International Kolkata Book Fair app from Play Store before you reach the Central Park fair ground. The app has a full list of the participants and will guide you from the nearest gate to the required stall.

“This year, we have done away with the printed guide maps that used to get distributed from our office. This is a more convenient and nature-friendly move,” said Sudhangshu Sekhar Dey, the general secretary of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, which organises the fair. The app also has phone numbers to contact in emergencies. It also can guide one to gender-specific toilets, the SBI auditorium, the theme country pavilion and the police outpost at the fair.

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Postal souvenirs on sale at the India Post stall

Postal souvenirs on sale at the India Post stall

There are 1057 stalls this year, “about five or six more than last time”, according to Tridib Chatterjee, the guild president. “The area is fixed. All we can do is squeeze in a few more. We have tried to accommodate young publishers entering the book trade even if it means giving them 50sq m space,” Dey added.

The fair has been made accessible by wheelchair with ramps being made mandatory for all stalls. The walkways too are raised with ramps at the approaches.

People buying books worth Rs 1,000 or more can take part in a daily lucky dip, to take place at 6pm. The cash memos have to be submitted at a counter next to the Guild office at Gate 5.

If the weight of the books is too much to bear, India Post is offering its parcel service at Stall 291. Visitors can book the service at the stall. “Buy books and give them to us to deliver. And if you want to gift books to your loved ones, we can send them anywhere in the world,” chief post master general Ashok Kumar told The Telegraph Salt Lake.

Book Fair-special Sulekha inks on sale

Book Fair-special Sulekha inks on sale

The packaging rates start from Rs 58 and go up in six slabs up to Rs 270. The postage charge is added depending on the weight of the books to be delivered.

Last year, the delivery service was used to send about 25,000 books from the fair, Kumar said, amounting to business worth Rs 3 lakh.

The stall, which he inaugurated on Wednesday, is also selling a Tagore silk tie, carrying the Bard’s photograph and hand-written poetry, priced Rs 1619. A postcard calendar, prices Rs 110, is also doing brisk business.

A Book Fair-special range of inks has got launched at the Sulekha stall (no. 291), which has become a nostalgic favourite ever since it debuted two years ago. Bearing the Book Fair logo on the side, they have sketches drawn in Sulekha ink of various scenes associated with the fair on the outer package. While each bottle of ink costs Rs 499, buying the range of four together would cost Rs 1,500.

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