By IANS,
New Delhi: The National Book Foundation of Pakistan has pulled out of the 19th New Delhi World Book Fair, a few days after the country’s chief election commissioner and a parliamentary delegation cancelled their visits to India to protest the snubbing of Pakistani cricketers at the IPL auction.
“There is a slight disappointment as the National Book Foundation of Pakistan pulled out of the fair yesterday. However, there are other private publishers from Pakistan who are still part of the fair,” said Nuzhat Hassan, director of the National Book Trust (NBT), which is organising the fair.
She, however, did not specify any particular reason for the pull out.
A total of 1,200 Indian and foreign publishers are participating in the fair, being held Jan 30-Feb 7 in the capital.
Amongst the many highlights of this biennial fair is the theme pavilion this time which focuses on books written on sports in India in view of the Commonwealth Games, scheduled to take place in Delhi Oct 3-14.
Titled “Reading our Common Wealth: An International Rights Exhibition of Books on Sports in India”, the theme pavilion will offer 700 titles published by 75 publishers across the country in different genres of sports.
Hassan said: “We sent out a special request to all publishers in India to bring their books on sports for the fair. We have got a good response and hope that people benefit from this effort”.
“Another highlight of the festival is a special International Rights catalogue with bibliographic and copyright details of 550 titles. The idea is to exchange copyrights about books on sports among publishers so that a wider understanding about sporting culture can be arrived at,” Hassan told reporters at a press meet here.
There will also be talks by sports personalities like Milkha Singh and Zafar Iqbal in the fair. Thirty-three other programmes, which include seminars, book launches and quizzes, are also a part of the itinerary.
The NBT gives a rebate to publishers participating in the fair.
While the categories of books showcased in the fair are of a wide variety, children’s books are given a special focus.
“In an effort to encourage children to come to the fair, there will be no entry fee for school children who come with their teacher before 1 p.m. Also we will have special Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses from Delhi University for the fair,” Hassan said.
The fair will also have a stall on e-book readers – the latest craze in the book world. Sony and Kindle will be showcasing their products.
With 2,400 stalls, the fair will take place in Pragati Maidan from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.