We are at the height of the South Asia book fair season, and India is wall-to-wall literary events as usual.
The recently concluded12-day Assam Book Fair is reporting nearly 500,000 visitors to the event jointly organised by the Publication Board Assam and the All Assam Publishers’ and Book Sellers’ Association at the College of Veterinary Science playground in Guwahati.
Throughout the fair, books worth approximately Rs 7 crore ($842,000) were sold. The fair included numerous sessions on topics such as fiction and non-fiction literature, cinema, culture, and history, with interactive discussions featuring renowned literary personalities.
Key guests at the closing session included Dr Sachchidanand Joshi, Member Secretary of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, and Dr Nani Gopal Mahanta, Vice-Chancellor of Gauhati University. Both praised the event for fostering community bonds and promoting intellectual growth.
Dr Joshi congratulated the people of Assam on achieving classical language status for Assamese and emphasized the importance of mother tongue development for community prosperity.
Dr Mahanta highlighted the crucial role of books in creating a healthy society and noted the book fair’s significance in initiating an intellectual movement in Assam.
The valedictory session, chaired by Vice-Chairman of the Publication Board Assam, Sumanta Chaliha, underscored the fair’s impact on promoting a book reading culture.
Via Assam Tribune.
TNPS note: we are at the height of the South Asia book fair season, and India is wall-to-wall literary events as usual.
Footfall and sales numbers are as reported by the event organisers, and as per past discussion may at times seem a little exaggerated, but the Assam numbers seem to me to be within reason, and rams home what I say so often here at TNPS – that India is one of the most exciting book markets on the planet.
This post first appeared in the TNPS LinkedIn newsfeed
.
