Calcutta Book Fair

Calcutta Book Fair

Kolkata is a city that teems with life and warmth, and this amazing zest for life can be seen among the crowds when they gather for the numerous events and fairs that are held in the city all through the year. One of the most famous and internationally renowned annual fairs held in the city is the Calcutta Book Fair.

With a modest beginning in 1976 by the Calcutta Publishers' and Booksellers' Guild, the Calcutta Book Fair has grown into a major event on the cultural calendar of the city, in the last 32 years. The Calcutta Book Fair traditionally starts on the last Wednesday of January, and ends on the first Sunday of February, overlapping with the Hindu festival of Saraswati Puja in the 12 days of its duration. Initially, the Calcutta Book Fair was a week-long event, but popular demand led to an extension, and the Calcutta Book Fair now lasts for 12 long days.

Undoubtedly the largest book fair in Asia, the Calcutta Book Fair is an annual event that draws in publishers, writers, buyers and book lovers not only from all over India, but all around the world. The Calcutta Book Fair was begun so as to meet the growing demands of the public for books, which was not being matched by adequate bookshops. However, today, the scope of the Calcutta Book Fair goes beyond books, and incorporates a world food market, a variety of exhibitions, an employment fair and other many other displays and forms of entertainment.

Books of different types, for different ages and by different publishers can be found in the one compound that bounds the Calcutta Book Fair. Most bookstalls stock English and Bengali books. Some of the most popular bookstalls that are set up in the Calcutta Book Fair include Ananda Publishers, Deb Sahitya Kutir, and Mitra Ghosh Publishers for Bengali books, and Timely Books, Seagull Books, Rupa and Co and Penguin India for English classics.

The attractiveness of the Calcutta Book Fair is increased due to various new features, such as the concept of a Theme Country, some recent themes being Australia (2007), Spain (2006), and France (2005). Another new concept is of the “Guest of Honor”, which denotes the newest participating international pavilion, and is kind of a secondary theme to the Calcutta Book Fair.

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