The recent turmoil that led to a change of guard in Bangladesh has cast a shadow over the participation of publishers from beyond the border in the upcoming edition of the International Kolkata Book Fair, scheduled between January 28 and February 9.

Unlike previous years, the organisers — the Booksellers and Publishers Guild — have so far not sent any invitation to the Bangladeshi authorities to participate in the 2025 book fair.

“The situation in Bangladesh has changed.... In view of the growing anti-India sentiment in the neighbouring country and the sudden change in the dynamics of our bilateral relations, we are not in a position to formally send an invite seeking participation from Bangladesh,” Tridib Kumar Chatterjee, the president of the Guild, told The Telegraph.

“We organise the fair under the aegis of the state government and so we cannot unilaterally take a call on an important issue like this as we think that the Union ministry of external affairs will also have a say on it,” he added.

Although the Guild has not sent the invite, which it used to hand over to the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission till last year, its office bearers have held several rounds of informal discussions with publishers in the neighbouring country and senior officials in Dhaka on the issue.

Sources in the Guild said that they conveyed to publishers and officials across the border that if the government in Bangladesh formally sent a request to participate in the book fair here, they would take up the matter with the state government, which would, in turn, seek clearance from Delhi.

Afsana Begum, the director of the National Book Centre, a wing of the cultural ministry in Bangladesh, told this correspondent that she has already sent a communication to the Guild expressing the interest among the publishers in being a part of the book fair in Calcutta.

“I held a meeting with publishers and sought their opinion.... A majority of them want to take part and I have conveyed that to the organisers (the Guild),” said Begum.

A Guild source confirmed the receipt of the e-mail, before adding that they could not take up the issue with Nabanna unless there was a formal request from the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government in Bangladesh.

Publishers from Bangladesh have been a regular feature of the Calcutta fair since 1996, the year Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister, and the scale and the scope of their participation had only grown with time.

Early in 2024, 48 private publishers from Bangladesh, over and above various government agencies, took part in the Calcutta fair, where over 3,000 sq ft of space was provided to them by the Guild at subsidised rates.

“We have always tried our best to accommodate publishers from Bangladesh in the book fair.... Besides, our chief minister (Mamata Banerjee) also wanted a larger contingent from the neighbouring country,” said a source.

According to him, the special status that the Guild offered to publishers from Bangladesh often did not go down well with some of its members as publishers from this side of the border never got the opportunity to reach out to book lovers in the neighbouring country.

“There used to be an international book fair in Dhaka and we participated for three years, between 1999 and 2001, before they stopped holding it.... The Ekushey Book Fair, held by the Bangla Academy, never let its door open for us despite repeated requests from this side,” said the source.

Not just the absence of reciprocity, the publishers on this side of the border were also upset as subsequent Bangladesh governments never took measures to curb piracy of books published by Calcutta publishers. “Pirated editions of some of the bestsellers from publishers like Ananda, Mitra and Ghosh, Dey’s and Patra Bharati swamped the Bangladesh market, but the authorities didn’t take action,” said the source.

“We wanted a level-playing field,” the source added.

Begum told this newspaper that she has started working on holding an international book fair in Dhaka next year. “That would give the Indian publishers a chance to reach out to our readers.... I have conveyed this to the Guild authorities,” she said.

“We are keen on participating in the Kolkata Book Fair as we believe that cultural exchange should continue irrespective of ups and downs in bilateral relationships,” she added.

While the issue hangs in balance, a pall of gloom has descended on the Bangladesh publishing industry.

“We love to participate in the book fair in Calcutta as we have dedicated readers there who look for the latest titles from Bangladesh.... Besides, we have so many friends there. We hope that a solution is reached soon so that we can plan our participation,” said Mazharul Islam, the CEO of Anyaprokash, a leading publisher in Bangladesh.