The nine-day book fair is gearing up for the last three days left for the book lovers to buy their favourite books before Sunday. Today being the seventh day, a large number of book lovers, school and college students, parents, teachers, librarians and books lovers of all age-groups visited the Fair, not wanting to miss the opportunity. Their love for printed books shows that even in this age of technology, printed books have not lost their significance.
Theme Pavilion
Ms Mridula Sinha, Hon’ble Governor of Goa and noted author also visited New Delhi World Book Fair. She appreciated the theme presentation of the book fair and said that she had a great affection for books and has been visiting the book fair for last many years.
An interaction with paralympians Rajinder Singh, Manpreet Kaur, Parvinder Singh was organised. They talked about the various facets of their lives, their childhood, their aspirations, support from their parents and finally their journey to the world of sports. They were of the view that if there is somebody to guide them, then they can definitely reach heights and gain respectable position in the society. Shri Jaswant Singh Zafar was the moderator of the session. Later, there was an interaction with the differently-abled singer Shri Bant Singh Jhabbar. His is a poignant tale of suffering, he lost his both arms and a leg in an attack for protesting against his daughter’s gang rape.
In another session, the National Book Trust, India organised a music programme at the Theme Pavilion. The visually impaired students of Government School for Blind Jamalpur, Ludhiana mesmerised the audience with their performance. The participants at the programme were Simer, Lovely Mehta, Sandeep Kaur, Manpreeet Kaur and Harshita Sehgal.
Children’s Pavilion
The beautifully-designed Children’s Pavilion is drawing attention of a number of children visiting the New Delhi World Book Fair. Several programmes for and by children are being organised at the Fair.
A seminar on constitutional rights of the children was organised at the Children’s Pavilion. The panelists were: Shri S.K. Saxena; Ms Sujata Gupta, Principal, Nigam Pratibha School; Shri Bikas Roy, MD, IFCI Factors Ltd.; Shri Rajesh Mishra, founder, Temple of Learning and Ms Savita Singh, Advocate, Supreme Court. The speakers discussed about the rights of children as mentioned in the Constitution of India like Right to Education, Right to choose medium of language, Right to Information among others. The seminar was organised by ABDS Corporation.
In addition, two story writing workshops were also organised in which well-known author Sanjeev Jaiswal, helped children learn the nuances of writing good stories. He also narrated stories on ‘Chimpu and Shera’. The other workshop was organised by Amity University in which Dr Ira Saxena, well-known author and psychologist interacted with the children.
A panel discussion on ‘Science Writing for the Children and Young Adults’ was organised at the Children’s Pavilion. During the session, the speakers discussed about the various aspects of science writing in India for children and young. They also discussed about the status of science writing in major Indian languages. The panelists were Dr Biman Basu, Dr Anjana Chattopadhyay, Dr Archita Bhatta, Dr Bimal Kanti Sen, among others.
Author’s Corner
An audio book, titled ‘October Junction,’ authored by Divya Prakash Dubey was released at Author’s Corner, Hall 8. Divya Prakash Dubey talked about ‘new Hindi literature’ and how it has been criticised and praised at the same time. He remarked that society should start accepting such Hindi literature in order to make a better connectivity with today’s youth. The session was moderated by Nilopat Mrinal, author of the book ‘Dark Horse.’
At Lekhak Manch, a discussion on humour in drama was organised by Vyang Yatra. The panelists were: Pratap Sehgal, Rajesh Kumar, Rajendra Rao, Pragya Rohini among others. They discussed about the different aspects of humour in Hindi literature. On this occasion, books like Mere Mann Ki Bal Kahaniyan and Pande Ji aur Fursat Ke Laddu, were also released.
A festival of poetry was organised by Vishwa Hindi Sahitya Parishad at Lekhak Manch. Well-known Hindi poets, Shri Girish Pankaj, Shri Harendra Pratap, Dr Vivek Gautam, Dr Rajesh Srivastava and Ms Swati Shweta mesmerised the audience with their works.
The books ‘Modi@Success India’ and ‘Mission Impossible’, authored by Renu Saini were released at Author’s Corner, Hall no. 8. The special guests on the occasion were: Shri Proful Ketki, Shri Harishchand Pandwal, Shri Prabhat and Shri Piyush. While interacting with the authors, Renu Saini said Modi ji has inspired her to write this book, as he brought common people of our nation into limelight, setting a benchmark for future Prime Ministers. Further, she mentioned her new book ‘Mission Impossible’, explains the struggles one has to face at different stages of life. To this she added that this book has somehow made her more strong and bold, and looks forward that the books does the same for its readers.
