The 48th International Fair begins today, January 28th. After a long year of waiting, the Kolkata Book Fair has finally begun. However, this is the first time that the Bangladesh Pavilion will not be present at the Kolkata Book Fair.
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Kolkata Book Fair:
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee inaugurated the 48th International Kolkata Book Fair. She inaugurated the book fair at the Milon Mela premises of Central Park at 5 pm on Tuesday. The German Ambassador was present at the inauguration of the book fair. It will continue till February 9. This year is special because Germany is the theme country.
Inaugurating the book fair, the Chief Minister said, “The book fair is our pride. The importance of books has not diminished even in the digital age. The Kolkata book fair is the best in the country. Books are our inspiration, our inspiration. More than 30 crore books were sold at the 2024 book fair.”
The main gate of this year’s book fair has been named after Ritwik Ghatak-Salil Chowdhury. Two gates in imitation of German architecture.
This year offers a comprehensive set of new experiences and inclusions for visitors to have a wonderful time. The stalls have already started being set up. There will be more than 1,000 stalls at this book fair.
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Which countries will have stalls?
Apart from Germany, there are publishing houses in Britain, America, France, Russia, Peru, Argentina, Guatemala, Latin American countries. There are publishing houses in almost all the states of India.
There will be no stall from Bangladesh this year
This is the first time that the Bangladesh Pavilion will not be present at the Kolkata Book Fair. Since 1996, Bangladesh’s stall has been present at the Kolkata Book Fair. However, this time there will be no more Bangladesh’s stall. It is known that a proper application has not been made by Bangladesh.
Meanwhile, every year, Bengali-loving readers are very interested in seeing what kind of books have been presented at the Bangladesh stall. However, this time the overall situation is a bit different. In that case, this time there will be no more Bangladesh’s stall at the Book Fair.
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There will be a chance to win a lottery at this year’s book fair
There will be a lottery at this year’s book fair. The lottery winners will receive a book coupon worth 1,000 taka. They can buy books from the stalls by showing
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A Customised Mobile App to Navigate Over 1,000 Stalls
More than 1000 book stalls have been set up at this year’s book fair. Finding your favourite shop in the crowd of thousands of visitors can be a bit difficult.
So, Kolkata Book Fair has found an effective solution to this major problem. You can find any stall through the app. There is also a QR code that you can scan to find the stall at the fair. Every year, Kolkata’s Book Fair welcomes lakhs of visitors and is expected to do the same in 2025. Available for Android and Apple users, people can access it to reach the venue from a distance of a kilometre.
Publishers and Booksellers Guild General Secretary Sudhanshu Sekhar De shared some surprising information about the exciting launch. This marks the first time a book fair in India has managed such an advanced customized app.
It is reported that 1,500 police officers have been deployed daily for security at the fair. In addition, several measures have been taken in the field of transportation to the fair.
And on the occasion of this book fair, a special metro will run on the Green Line. The metro will also be available on Sunday. This was announced by Kolkata Metro in a statement issued on Saturday.