Dear Reader,
February has been a super busy month.
So, here we are at the 51st edition of the New Delhi World Book Fair (NDWBF), organised by the National Book Trust (NBT), under the Ministry of Education.
Year after year, many readers in the national capital region await this festive occasion with anticipation.
Happy smiling faces of school children were a delight to watch as they moved across book stalls. I could hear many kids whispering, giggling and laughing while checking out books with their peers. It reminded me of my son’s school trips too.
At one stall, I heard a school kid say, “Teacher asked us to bring only two hundred rupees but what can we buy here with that?” Reality check for publishers and readers! Frankly, many books for children and Young adult category cater to the more privileged and upper middle class households, making it unaffordable for many students. Not all Indian households can set apart a decent sum for buying books alone.
Can there be some incentive such as a value-based student discount card be rolled out to schools? The discount cards can start at base rates starting from Rs 100 and go up to several thousands, enabling parents to buy incentive-based cards instead of entrusting cash to their wards.
This way, schools can pass the benefit with extra value to their entire student community. There could be special incentivies to promote books in vernacular languages, too.
Think of impact in terms of scale and volume.
Wouldn’t this be a win-win for local book stalls as they would be able to sell bigger volumes to a larger pool of readers? Of course, the word would spread around in the student community, which means more demand and more sales.
According to news reports, the daily average footfall was pegged at around 100,000 visitors.
Only rarely does an avid reader catch a glimpse of what feels like a surge of collective excitement, such as what we experience year after year at the New Delhi World Book Fair.
You know, when my son was growing up, I used to take him regularly for an entire day to the World Book Fair. We would browse through books and choose what we wanted and bring home several bags bursting at the seams with stacks of books. For us, as a family, this was almost an annual ritual. It came to a standstill post-Covid, as we grappled with the new ‘mask up’ culture and a general fear of crowded places.
This year, it felt great to be at the World Book Fair as a family once again and we had an amazing time together.
What Excited Readers @ New Delhi World Book Fair?
A sea of books to choose from and of course, decent discounts everywhere!
Browsing through 2000 book stalls showcasing books in multiple languages.
Publishers hosting book releases and author discussions in their stalls.
A widerange of authors personally interacting with readers at book stalls.
Children’s Pavilion offered young reader with interactive sessions on storytelling, arts, drama, calligraphy and much more.
The International Pavilion was a key higlight. It featured the Illustrator’s Corner which hosted world-class Italian illustrators and mandala art, besides workshops, portfolio reviews and masterclasses.
This year, Saudi Arabia pavilion ignited curiosity and interest as the focus was on the fields of cultural co-operation between the two countries, besides showcasing antiquities, artifacts, books, and musical instruments unique to Saudi Arabia.
After the resounding success of this year’s Book Fair, there are aspects that can be improved for the next edition.
Better representation for translators, broader panel discussions featuring debut authors to support them and engaging sessions with children’s authors would add extra value to strengthen the publishing ecosystem.
More streamlined efforts to bring in iconic writers from other languages such as Malayalam and Tamil would add refreshing cultural nuances to discussions related to storytelling. Let’s not forget, the business of publishing thrives on the seeds of creativity and imagination in a writer’s mind. It’s not marketing alone that does the magic.
A critical gap pertains to the lack of medical emergency care and the need for providing basic medical aid and drinking water inside the Pavilion.
We all know a medical emergency can occur at anytime and the need for immediate care may be an urgent one.
With thousands of children and people flocking to the Book Fair, a medical emergency counter is essential; so is a counter inside the premises to sell drinking water or any essential food items such as biscuits.
So, what’s next?
Preparations for the next edition of New Delhi World Book Fair have already begun.
Few innovative elements for the next edition can be expected, particularly B2B sessions by harnessing a larger participation of CEOs and Fair Directors of the world’s book fairs.
Having seen and experienced the rush this year, I am certain more local and global publishers can be expected to mark their presence next year as well.
This is a good time for publishers to reach out and book their participation slots to clinch the early bird advantage.
Some kodak moments
Spotted Jeena R. Pappadi’s book at the New Delhi World Book Fair!
Yes, you can spot her photo at the top left hand corner of this image. Her books are showcased in the last row.
Read my review of ‘Rat, Rabbit, Rock!’ here.
As you can see, my teen loved being at the New Delhi World Book Fair 2024.
last thing
I admired the glossy and well-designed book stalls but I bought tons of books from local publishers whose books are never stocked in Delhi’s ‘elite’ bookshops.
Most clicked link from last week: Japanese fiction
Grateful for you, dear reader!!! You are the reason I send out this newsletter.