In the ongoing 30th Bhubaneswar Book Fair, the bibliophiles of the city have got an opportunity to see and choose from a wide range of books at one place. The oldest book fair of the city has started from January 29 at the Exhibition Ground here.
Around 325 kiosks at the fair have displayed huge varieties of books targeting every age group, including children's pictorial books, drawing and colouring books, study materials, novels, and story books.
Books on mythology, astrology, religion, medicine and engineering, besides educational CDs, are also available in the fair. NBT marketing executive SK Bal said a maximum of children books have already been sold from his stall and English books are more in demand than Odia books.
“Though we have a very good collection of Odia books, but their demand is less than the English ones,” he added, and hoped that the demand for the Odia books will pick up in days to come.
This is the only book fair in India, which is organised by writers, said organiser of the fair Barendra Krushna Dhal. That is why the torana (doorway) of the fair is named after the writers like Raj Kishore Ray torana, Jahuri Bhai torana and Abani Barala torana.
As we are interested in Odia literature, we are giving stress on Odia language and literature every year, Dhal added.
Writer Biraja Prasad Routray and Ranjan Pradhan were conferred with Pustak Mela Sahitya Puraskar, 2014 for story and feature, respectively, Dhal informed. Poet Fani Mohanty and writer Banaja Devi were awarded with Sacchi Routray Kavita Sammana and Bijay Krushna Mohanty Galpa Sammana, respectively, he informed. Events like book release, poetry recitation, religious discourse and book reading session are also organised in the fair, which will conclude on February 9.