The theme of the New Delhi World Book Fair 2014 will be Kathasagara — Celebrating Children’s literature, says MA Sikandar, director National Book Trust of India
India has the largest population of children, but if you compare that to the availability of reading material provided for them, a lot more needs to be done and MA Sikandar, director National Book Trust of India is doing everything he can in that direction. The forthcoming New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF), scheduled from February 15 to 23 at Pragati Maidan, will bring together over 250 authors and multiple publishers who will interact with the people.
The fair is organised by the National Book Trust, an apex body of the Government of India, under the Ministry of Human Resource Development. India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), the nodal agency of the Government of India under the Ministry of Commerce, for promoting the country’s external trade is the coorganiser of the fair.
NDWBF is one of the major international book events in Asia, Asia Pacific and Africa. Initially the event was on biennial basis and it has been annual event from the year 2012. This year the fair will be spread in nine halls in Pragati Maidan where over 1000 exhibitors from India and abroad will display books in English, Hindi, Indian and foreign languages at around 1900 stalls/stands. The fair is divided into seven major categories like Social Science, Science and Technology, e-contents/digital books, general books, children books, Hindi and other Indian languages. “Earlier there were no author interactions, but since last year I have made it a point to introduce that because fairs need to be a learning experience,” shared Sikander.
This year’s theme is Kathasagara — Celebrating Children’s literature. A separate theme pavilion will be put up by NBT in the fair in hall number two which will display more than 500 Children’s books in English, Hindi and some Indian languages. The pavilion will have separate area for activities and discussions, illustrator’s corner and digital corner. A number of activities and discussions, workshops for children, are being planned by NBT in the theme pavilion.
The foreign pavilion will showcase international participation of 25-30 participants including Poland, Germany, France, Japan, South Korea, Turkey, Indonesia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, Sri lanka, Nepal and two International organisations (WHO and IlO). This year Poland is the guest country in the fair. “The idea is to bring together publishers who can bring in their own authors to impart knowledge on some subjects. Besides a number of workshops and seminars are also scheduled to be held in the fair in collaboration with other government organisations and universities,” said Sikander.
There will also be a special pavilion of NBT showcasing books on Indian languages. This will provide a good opportunity for the visitors to flip through the books of their choice in their mother tongue.
In order to showcase the rich Indian culture to the visitors, cultural shows are organised by NBT through Sangeet Natak Academi. last year artistes from many tribal areas across the country were invited to perform in the lal Chowk, Pragati Maidan. This is one of the major attractions to the book lovers and foreign participants to understand the multi culture of India.