Kolkata Book Fair reports 16 lakh people with Rs 15 cr books purchased: Organizers

An estimated 16 lakh people visited the 43rd International Kolkata Book Fair and purchased books worth Rs 15 crore till Saturday, the organisers said on Monday. General secretary of Publishers and Book Sellers Guild Tridib Chatterjee told a press meet on Monday, the concluding day of book fair that an estimated 16 lakh visitors frequented the fairground to buy books worth Rs 15 crore till Saturday night as per initial estimates from the book stalls.

"Now going by the crowd at the book fairground in last two days (Sunday and Monday) and the initial sales figure received from different publications in these past two days, the sales figure is poised to rise above last year's sales figure of Rs 20 crore," Chatterjee said. The guild official said the exact sales figure, which will in all probability cross last year's figure of Rs 20 crore adding the sales figures for the last two days, can be known later after calculations.

The book fair came to a close at a formal ceremony on Monday night The guild would felicitate a reader from Nadia district for buying books worth Rs 2.42 lakh from book fair stalls as "such people should be brought to the limelight for setting an example for the new generation of book lovers," Guild director Sudhanshu Dey said. The name of the reader, who apparently set an all-time record as a single buyer in the Kolkata book fair history, would be revealed later, Dey said to a question.

Chatterjee said four winners of a lottery, held to promote buying books, were also gifted a designer bookshelf each by the organiser. The shelf was filled with books worth Rs 1 lakh of their choice. The ambassador of the theme country in this year's book fair Guatemala, Giovanni Castillo said he was here not only as an ambassador but as "a friend of all of you Kolkatans." Thanking the city for showing interest about Guatemala, Castillo said, "we appreciate the opportunity to represent our country in this fair. This (exchange) will continue in the coming years." To a question, Chatterjee said the theme country and the schedule of the 44th International Kolkata Book Fair will be announced later.

The dates will be decided after considering the international calendar of 2020 and the schedules of the dignitaries, he said. Several countries from across the world attended this edition of International Kolkata Book Fair which witnessed participation of authors from Russia, Costa Rica, Spain, Scotland, Australia, Argentina, Bangladesh and this year's theme country Guatemala.

(With inputs from agencies.)