Book lovers flocked to the World Book Fair at Pragati Maidan for the third consecutive day of the 26th New Delhi World Book Fair on Tuesday. Many visitors preferred paperback edition over the e-books and books compiled in videos. Despite the rise in the numbers of people listening to audio books, or those switching on a Kindle, there are readers who love to hold a book, and sift through pages, continues to grow.
“No e-book can give me the joy of reading as the paper books give. While reading paperback edition, we feel that we are living what is written in book,” said Haritha Sujathan , a book lover. She bought about 14 books, 8 of them only fiction.
Ashok Maheshwari of Rajkamal Prakashan said that people are still writing books because there is a continuous demand. Despite new mediums coming up, the old media retain their space, the sale does not get affected by it, he said.
“Around 12 lakh books were sold in the last one year,” said Baldev Sharma, Chairman of National Book Trust (NBT). He said that it was more important that people read, not what medium they choose to read on.
However, readers appeared to be more attracted to big publishers like Oxford and Penguin rather than small ones at low cost.
Visitors at the fair get the opportunity to participate in several activities organised by the publishers, editors, and authors. As many readers and publishers wonder about the future of books with the advent of e-books, that has gained publicity among the youth.
Most of the students appeared interested in the best sellers. Some of the novels that were being sought after are, ‘The boy with a broken heart’ by Durjoy Datta. ‘Marry me Stranger’ a national best seller written by Novoneel Chakraborthy is also found place in the heart of the young readers.
The readers, fond of thrillers were also happy and satisfied with some books like ‘The midnight club’ by James Paterson. “I had a conversation with the author of a new book named ‘At crossroads’ written by Smita Maheshwari,” said Rahul Manchanda, a student of Delhi University.
Ashwaq Abdul Kareem, who visited the fair to meet and interact with the writers, said “My ambition is to become an author. So talking to the writers of the best seller novels, always give you satisfaction and confidence. The book fair will come to an end on January 14.