The New Delhi World Book Fair is an exciting place to be, especially for children. With school vacations on, today the Fair saw kids having a field day with their parents buying their favorite books. They were also busy in a number of activities such as plays, puppet shows, storytelling, interactions with children’s authors, creative writing and drawing workshops, among others organized for them at Children’s Pavilion, located near Hall No. 7H. A large number of children from various schools and voluntary organizations also participated in these events. more than 50,000 people are said to visit the book fair today.
Children’s Pavilion
A conversation with popular children’s author, Deepa Agarwal was organised by National Book Trust, India (NBT), at Children’s pavilion. Talking about her affection for books, she said that stories have always fascinated her and writing them is her passion. She interacted with children and gave them tips on how to create and write stories. Children from Deep Foundation and Bachpan Society participated in the session. Ms Deepa Aggarwal entertained the children with her stories of moral values and friendship. Later, a dance workshop was organised by the Deep Foundation, where all the children participated enthusiastically.
In addition, a discussion on children’s literature was organised by Eklavya, an NGO. The speakers in the programme included Deepali Shukla, Richa Jha, and Rinchin. During the session, the speakers also shared their experience in children’s writing. On this occasion, several books for children in Hindi were released like Ajooba, School Mein Taanta, Chashma Naya Hai, among others.
Theme Pavilion
National Book Trust, India and All India Confederation of the Blind organised a poetry session at the Theme Pavilion in which visually impaired writers and poets rendered their works. They appreciated the efforts of Louis Braille, well-known French educationist and inventor of Braille script. The speakers on the occasion included Shri Laxmi Shankar Vajpai, Ms Bimla Negi, Dr Saraswat Mohan ‘Manishi’, Shri Mahendra Sharma, Dr Ram Avtar Sharma, and others.
International Events Corner
A discussion on Emirate and Indian Cinema was organised at Sharjah Pavilion. During the session, Dr Habeeb Ghloom discussed how Indian cinema has impacted Emirate cinema as well as Emirate people. He informed that Indian actors like Hema Malini, Dharmendra, Sri Devi, Shatrughan Sinha are popular in Emirate. He remarked that Emirate people have come closer to Indian culture and people via cinema.
A discussion on ‘Translating our Emirate Tales for the World’ was organised at the Sharjah Pavilion where the speakers discussed about the challenges and opportunities in the area of the translation. They observed that translation is an important platform for cultural exchange. Mirrors, a Poetry Readings session and a discussion on ‘Cooperation between Arab and Indian Publishers’ was also organised.
Literary Activities
A conversation with Dr Q A Aashob, well-known author was organised by German Book Office at Author’s Corner in Hall 8. The session was moderated by Monica Jeler. The author talked about his book ‘Open Secret – A Key to Success’. He discussed about how secret is something confined in the four dimensions of brain, but some things become too common that they turn out to be open secrets. The author also talked about subconscious mind. According to him, the things one sees are imprinted in the subconscious mind as images and later these images get the term of words.
A book release function by Suruchi Prakashan was organised at Lekhak Manch. Prof. Baldeo Bhai Sharma, Chairman, NBT presided over the programme. Shri Gautam Sapra and Dr Harindra Kumar were the speakers on the occasion.
