This Monday, I visited World Book Fair 2016 with my Dad. I love doing book-fairs with him because twenty five years ago, he was the one who actually introduced me to this delightful world of books and even today he does that with his flair for reading and writing. With this post, I would like to inspire everyone to go and grab some books for yourself and family too. I am glad the capital city, Delhi gives us such lovely events.
National Book Trust (NBT) and India Trade Promotions Organization are the organizers of the New Delhi World Book Fair from January 9-17, 2016. It happens only once in a year, so you must not miss the opportunity to be here.
As I made my way to the Hall 6. This book fair happens to be the biggest celebration of books and reading in Asia.
India is one of the world’ major publishing industry. We have a strong presence in 20 languages.
The theme of the book fair this year is ‘Cultural Heritage of India’. Lets celebrate unity in diversity. The Cultural Heritage of India has been chosen as the theme to connect book lovers with our Indian cultural legacy that is about more than 5000 year old civilization.
Books not only define our way of life and tradition, they are also a great way to talk about our people and their legacy.
The Theme Pavilion is situated at Hall No. 7. The aim is to emphasize on the philosophy, knowledge, traditions and multi-lingual cultural practices which have shaped our country. This zone displays more than 800 books on different genres like Indian art, culture, music, etc in 16 languages.
The gate of the Pavilion has been beautifully crafted to represent the great Buddhist Stupa of Sanchi, Madhya Pradesh. There is another gate too which is the replica of the Kakatya Kala Thoranam, one of the four identical gates of Warangal Fort in Telangana.
Theme Pavilion in the World Book Fair has a central circumference and its basic foundations represent the basic foundations of the Indian culture like Peace, Non-violence, folk traditions, family values, Yoga, etc. Everyday cultural performances, folk dances, bhakti songs and dramatic events based on well-known ancient texts of India are taking place here.
There is a selfie room too so I am sure you would love do some bookfie here…
The Theme Pavilion has a wonderful display of books from ancient to contemporary times. It actually shows us the journey from bhoj-patra to e-books. There were posters, paintings, lipis, handwritten manuscripts of Ramayana. The manuscripts display has been organized by National Mission for Manuscripts, New Delhi
Such interesting books and in different languages got my appreciative eye in the Theme Pavilion. They were showcased on glass tables and one could sit on the chairs around them. I always say read a bit before you buy. Yes, I must tell you that there were chairs to sit if you felt tired at any point of time while walking around the Halls. The Theme Pavilion was one of the richest section of the Book Fair.
Information Counter-World Book Fair. Thats my Daddy standing in the center, talking to a guy and looking at the booklets available. Don’t forget to pick your copy of Fair Daily.
By this time we were tired and we came our of the hall to catch some breath and some light snacks. There I clicked this picture which informs us about the foreign participants of New Delhi World Book Fair 2016
Books are definitely a great idea to bond with our neighboring countries. We must read each other to know more about each other. China is the Guest of Honor country this year. The delegation includes more than 80 publishing houses. A cultural exhibition features China-India Cultural Contacts Photo Exhibition. More than 60 cultural and publishing exchange events are themed on Renaissance of Civilizations. This is definitely a lovely and must-do section of the Book Fair.
Renaissance of Civilization, Understanding through Exchanges- Indian audience, publishing industry could be seen understanding the book culture and more about contemporary China here in this section which had a rich collection of Chinese books. The children books were very cute.
The travel blogger in me couldn’t resist such books.
Between the rich exhibitions of books, culture, publishing forums and author events, there was a small section which had paintings from Chinese artists too. I have an eye for art and I clicked my favorite to share it here. I am sure it celebrates a colorful and beautiful life.
This was the wall for the Children to make the most of it. There were a set of crayon colors kept right beneath it. I visited the Book Fair on the 3rd day and I was glad to see that in the last two days of the fair, the board had already been colored in many colors.
After strolling through the China Pavilion, I further explored the other stalls from foreign participants. Since I am just back from my month-long visit to UAE, this one got my attention almost immediately.
Tehran International Book Fair- It was wonderful to learn about other International Book Fairs.
I spotted the above books in the section of the foreign pavilion that read ‘Visit Indonesia’. Don’t go on the literal meaning of the ‘Title’, the books are funny, sad, thrilling, even annoying and they are written by a traveler whose aim is to talk about experiences as a traveler, of different places and more. I have not read them but I am definitely following the blog. They are being adapted in movies too. For more- http://naked-traveler.com/
This stall tells us about Poland Publishing, books and their authors. It was very attractively displayed and the aim was to inform people about its office in Jor Bagh, New Delhi.
Kindle or Books- Its totally your call as I am not debating on this because I have won two Kindles yet I love the touch and feel of the hard copy of books. But if you are reading, I would not mind you do it on Kindle or you pick a book. The joys of reading are too many. Lets spread it. I am sure such Fairs aim to inculcate the habit in children and inspire the elders.
National Books Trust periphery was a buzzing section of the World Book Fair. One must visit them. Honestly, I was impressed with their collection of books. This Government organization offers books on varied interesting subjects and at very cheap rates. And if you take lifetime membership by giving Rs. 100, you are eligible for 20% lifetime discount on their books.
What I love about Book Fairs is that one gets to see and pick books on all subjects. So if you are looking for that inspiration to churn out your own book, a day here will fuel you to take the dream further. Yes, I did come back thoroughly inspired.
One by one, I did visit the stalls of my favorite publishing houses. I am grateful to them that they send me books of my choice for unbiased reviews. This is from the insides of Srishti Publishers & Distributors.
Hachette had displayed their books in huge , bulky cut-out forms that made them look larger than life. I loved their display idea thoroughly. Full marks to them for this.
There were books all around and some of these books on Women were definitely a favorite among male readers. I saw three guys buy them in a span of five minutes while I was strolling the stall. A day before on Saturday, I had just heard Taslima Nasreen at the Delhi Lit Fest, it felt good to spot her book but I did not buy it.
Finger Print Publishing- Books on catchy subjects were definitely a favorite among people. This was selling quick.
The best sellers could be seen all around because the young crowd loves to read them. Don’t tell me you can’t stand Chetan Bhagat, because I believe he is one author who has made many people fall in love with reading. Trust me these books sell because they make quick and happy reads.
Honestly, I bought some books because I loved their catchy covers and interesting blurbs. Please don’t judge me because I love reading not what you tell me but what I pick for myself.
Gita Press, Gorakhpur is not closed. The news that you heard about its shut-down was a rumor. I still have my first concise ‘Bhagwad Gita’ in English from here. Of course, I was born in Gorakhpur so this comes from my Nani’s place and I was super excited to spot it. My Dad did not budge without buying a few more spiritual books.
Wow, such colorful and shiny books. You can’t resist noticing them. And if Dinosaurs have been your subject of interest, you got to buy them.
After doing all the halls we did this one finally-Hall No. 18. It has books and miscellaneous stuff.
Some stalls had books scattered all around. One could pick in bulk. There were being offered at huge discounts too.
The children section was very heart warming. I ended up buying lots of stuff for kids in my family. And I am not giving them until I have read them first. These books of 6-10 pages are source of immense joy and happiness for readers of all ages.
Finally, after spending 6 hours inside different halls of Pragati Maidan, I made my way to the exit from Gate No. 8. Both my hands were occupied because I had bags full of books. My Dad too had picked useful books on Hindi because that’s his subject of interest. We both were happy souls. You could do this too any day till 17th January.
Happy Reading!!
By Manjulika Pramod
An engineer who loves to be called a blogger more!
Traveler, short-story writer, voracious reader, foodie is the better me!
Reading, eating, traveling, exploring, observing and blogging are the beautiful highs of my life.
Your post reminded me of my childhood, when every year, my sisters took me to World Book Fair and bought me bagful of books. The first time I went, I had not yet learnt the alphabets band had to settle with picture books. Its a heaven for book lovers. The pics made me feel as if I’m in Delhi!
Really looking forward to visit book fair this weekend…Nice post:-)
The photographs and the caption made me feel like a walkthrough. Appreciate your skill with the lens and pen.
Thanks for the walk through.. nicely covered..
So much to learn from you always.It brings out an entirely new angle of covering the book fair.
Hi, thanks for the post. Books have always been my first love and seeing these pics made me really happy, though a tad jealous!:))
Very Nice post & so
Looking Buetyfull
Your post reminded me of my childhood, when every year, my sisters took me to World Book Fair and bought me bagful of books. The first time I went, I had not yet learnt the alphabets band had to settle with picture books. Its a heaven for book lovers. The pics made me feel as if I’m in Delhi!