New Delhi World book fair gets underway at Pragati Maidan, 800 publishers from over 20 foreign countries will participate

The nine-day New Delhi World Book Fair kicks off at the Pragati Maidan on Saturday. The theme for 2017 book fair is Manushi, and it will focus on writing on and by women. 

Minister of State for Human Resources Development Mahendra Nath Pandey will inaugurate the fair on Saturday. The theme will be inaugurated by Human Resource and Development Minister Prakash Javadekar on Tuesday.

2017 World Book fair will witness the participation of nearly 800 publishers from across the country and abroad. More than 20 countries including China, Egypt, France, Germany, Japan and Iran will participate in 2017 book fair.

Also, a number of seminars, panel discussions, storytelling sessions and workshops on creative writing will be organised at the Children's Pavilion.

To mark its 60 years of foundation, The National Book Trust (NBT)  will also showcase its journey in promoting books and reading at a special exhibit called 'This is no looking back'.  

Eminent Odia writer and Jnanpith awardee Pratibha Ray will be Guest of Honour and Tomasz Kozlowski, Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to India will be the Special Guest on the occasion.

“There has been the tradition of women writers as well as scholars since ancient times in India. Many of them have set examples of morality through their literary works and have played a vital role in promoting modern thoughts. Therefore, we wanted to provide a special space to them at the fair.

“Since writings ‘on women’ are as much a part of this exhibition as those ‘by women’, hence the theme presentation does not intend to project writings ‘by women’ as a special genre in themselves,” Baldeo Sharma, Chairman, National Book Trust(NBT) said.

While books on different genres will form the main ingredients of this exhibition, posters and panels of some of the eminent representative women scholars of ancient and medieval India, and women pioneers of modern Indian literature, will be on display.

The fair will also celebrate 60 years of National Book Trust (NBT) at the Special Pavillion, that will feature an exhibit titled, “This is No Looking Back!”.

“It will be exciting for youngsters to see the exhibit that will showcase NBT’s journey of promoting the culture of reading in last six decades,” Sharma said.

‘Archival Photos/ Materials’ will offer a glimpse of noted personalities including Presidents and Prime Ministers of India, writers, readers, publishers, and artists who have patronised NBT’s mandate of creating a culture of reading.

There will also be a display of NBT’s bestsellers, besides an ‘Illustrator’s Wall’ showcasing works of eminent Indian Illustrators like Mickey Patel, Pulak Biswas, Mario, Miranda, Ravi Paranjpe, Jagdish Joshi among others.