In the era of digitalisation, e-books are gaining more importance than paperbacks. Book lovers, mostly young generation, thronging the ongoing 26th World Book fair at Pragati Maidan are opting for e-books as it is considered to be time saving.
“We sold over 50,000 copies of e-books last year and the footfall this year has also been very good. We’re hoping to sell a greater number in this year’s World Book Fair” said Nikita Khandelwal, exhibitor, Penguin India. Another book seller said the youths of this age are more attracted towards e-books and they can enjoy reading even on their smartphones.
According to Monica Malhotra Kandhari, Managing Director of MBD group, “The e-books or physical books have its own importance and cannot overlap each other. Choosing one amongst them depends upon the user and the situation. On the other hand she mentions that technological advancement in the education sector has given the teachers a wide variety of teaching methods.” Children’s books are the highlight of this year's edition of the fair. It includes activities like monster-making and comic-making workshops conducted by publishers, editors, and authors from different European countries, at the Children’s Pavilion. The workshop was free of cost and mainly focused on the weaker sections of society.
The ongoing 26th World Book fair in New Delhi witnessed a lot of visitors on Sunday at Pragati Maidan. In order to attract more visitors, the National Book Trust (NBT) has collaborated with European Union and its artist. Palle Schmidt, a renowned cartoonist from Denmark, introduced a crash course in comic book making in the EU Pavilion.
Theme Pavilion is another attraction as various activities are being held to cater to interest and likings of the book lovers. Theme Pavilion's focus is on “Environment and Climate Change”. The programme commenced with chanting of shlokas to transport the visitors to ancient Indian wisdom, nature, environment and human beings.
While at the Author's Corner, there were various discussions as well as book launches organised. On the first day Sage Publications had a discussion on two books, “Voices of the Talking Stars” by Madhuja Mukhrjee and “Behind the Scene” by Aysha Iqbal Viswamohan.
According to an NBT official, the book fair mainly focuses on enriching reading habits amongst children and adults as well. The NBT keeps changing themes to attract more visitors and also generate interest of books among people especially the younger ones.