New Delhi Book Fair Bringing Youth Closer to Books

Though a working day, the third day of the New Delhi World Book Fair remained busy. A large number of children along with their parents and teachers, students from college and universities and general readers could be seen visiting the Fair. Regardless of new developments in technology, the fascination for books will continue. The theme of the fair ‘Environment and Climate Change’ is attracting book lovers and helping them understand the need to protect environment.

“My love for travelling helped me find words for my books,” said, Ms Mridula Sinha, Hon’ble Governor of Goa at a book release function held at Lekhak Manch. She was happy to note that she could see a large number of women browsing through the books at the book fair. On this occasion, Ms Sinha’s book Reflections which is the English translation of the Hindi title Samajik Sarokar was released. In addition, the books Rastriya Chetna Ke Vividh Aayam, authored by Shri Baldeo Bhai Sharma, Abhimanyu Anant Kavya Rachnawali by Dr Kamal Kishore Goenka, Sant Sahitya Ki Samajh by Shri Nandkisore Pande and Mahamanav Abraham Lincoln by Shri Ramesh Patange were released. Shri Baldeo Bhai Sharma, Chairman, NBT remarked that book fairs are significant as they help large number of book lovers to acquire knowledge through books.

Theme Pavilion
A powerful message on global warming was enacted in the form of street play in Hindi at the Theme Pavilion. Titled ‘Jeevan Hamara, Zindagi Hamari’ , the play was directed by Bablu Jha and was performed by the artists from Shri Kumar Veer Bhushan and troupe. The session was organised by Babu Shivji Rai Foundation. 


Children’s Pavilion
A number of activities for children were organized at the Children’s Pavilion in which several children from various schools and voluntary organizations participated. Today ‘Youth Parliament’ was organized by Amity University Press where students discussed about ‘Interlinking of Rivers: A Boon or Bane’. In this occasion, Dr. Madhuphul; Amity Children Science Foundation; Dr. Tarun Jindal, Professor and Director of Amity Institute of Environment Science, and Executive Vice President of Amity University Press and Shri Raghuram Krishna Iyer were present. A puppet show on ‘pollution caused by digital devices’ was also organised at the pavilion.

International Events Corner
A book release function was organized at the International Events Corner by Royal Collins Publishing Group, Canada. On this occasion, Shri Baldeo Bhai Sharma, Chairman, NBT released the series of 11 Hindi and 20 English translations of Chinese books. The books launched on the occasion included Cheen Ka Itihaas, Cheen Ki Lok Kala aur Shilp, Cheeni Sabhyata aur Samaj, among others.


Literary Activities
Kamal L Anand, author of the book Natural Health and Healing interacted with the booklovers at Reflections (Authors’ Corner). He talked about the lifestyle of the people in recent times and gave tips to tackle health hazards. He also discussed about the basic habits that one should adopt to stay fit and healthy. He was of the view that meditation along with yoga and walking bare feet can cure any disease.

In another session at Reflections, Arun Anand, author of the book Body Organ Donation talked about how, where and why to donate organs. He said that earlier people used to donate eyes, blood, etc. but now people have also started donating hair for cancer patients. He also expressed his concern over illegal organ transplantation.

At Conversations (Authors’ Corner), Prachi Gupta, author of the book Super Siblings gave an insight into her journey as an author.

New Delhi Rights Table
New Delhi Rights Table is being organised at the book fair from 8 – 9 January 2018. The Rights Table is a two-day event which provides a platform to publishers, literary agents, translators, authors and editors from India and abroad for business opportunities. During the event, the publishers interact with each other, share their interests, negotiate and discuss about selling/buying copyrights. It is a unique platform that helps participants present their products and ideas to each other, and transfer rights of books available in English, Hindi, and other Indian and foreign languages. This year, more than 70 publishers from India and abroad including Egypt, Japan, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia and USA.