By IANS
New Delhi : For book lovers it is a feast. The 13th Delhi Book Fair opened here Saturday and there are over 50,000 books from seven countries, including neighbours Pakistan and China, to choose from.
Delhi Lt. Gov, Tejendra Khanna inaugurated the nine-day event at the Pragati Maidan. Gopi Chand Narang, president, Sahitya Academy, was the guest of honour at the inaugural ceremony.
“It may not be as big as the World Book Fair but Delhi Book fair attempts to inculcate and encourage reading habits, especially among children and youngsters,” said P.K. Arora, executive director of Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP).
The fair is jointly organised by FIP and India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO).
“We are also celebrating the 60th year of India’s independence. We have displayed several photographs of the freedom movement and publishers too have books on it,” Arora told IANS.
Around 230 publishing houses, including 13 from overseas, are participating in the fair. Apart from books, there are also hundreds of periodicals, magazines, teaching aids and computer software.
Apart from India, Pakistan and China, other participating countries are Iran, UAE, US and Vietnam.
In an attempt to make the event more meaningful, a number of book release events, quiz programmes, awards ceremonies and a painting competition will be held.
Seminars on library development, reading habits and marketing of books and journals in a changing scenario will also be held.
Two additional fairs – Stationary Fair and Sajavat Fair – are being held simultaneously, said an ITPO official.