post news network
Bhubaneswar, Nov 2: The season of book fairs is here, again. The city is set to host three such events through November and December.
The first to start is the 6th Ekamra book fair, which opens November 3 and ends November 13. The 19th Kalinga book fair will begin November 4 and end November 14 while the 17th Rajdhani book fair will run from December 2–13.
While the Ekamra book fair will be held at Janata Maidan, the Kalinga and Rajdhani book fairs will be held at Exhibition Ground.
The fairs are expected to feature works of fiction and non-fiction, and vernacular publications; they will offer discounts on books, according to the organisers.
The Ekamra book fair this year will also celebrate the completion of 80 years of Oriya film industry. Legends of the Oriya film industry will be felicitated on the occasion.
The organisers of the fair also propose to set up stalls to commemorate the birth anniversary of Oriya writers such as Gopal Chhotray, Sacchi Routray, and Guru Charan Patnaik. Personal collections of books read by the writers and their own works will be on display.
Another array of special stalls will be dedicated to writers who passed away in 2015-16 such as Mahapatra Nilamani Sahu, Hrudananda Ray, Dinanath Pathi, Sourindra Barik, Annada Prasad Rai and Apurva Ranjan Rai.
Bhaskar Jena, the secretary of Ekamra Pustak Mahotsav Committee, said the 11-day book fair will also feature cultural programmes and special discussions each day from 6.30–9.30pm. He highlighted the need for the capital to organise more such festivals to cater to the needs of the rapidly growing city and its population.
The daily panel discussions at the book fair will focus on topics such as adaptation of literary works into films, the importance of Jagannath culture and the importance of laughter.
President of the Kalinga book fair Geeta hota, in turn, said writers Debasish Mohapatra, Chandana Das, Ganeshwar Mahatav, Nadita Mohanty, Baikuntha Nath Pati, Murlidhar Parida, Sri Sri Hugula, Arun Chandra Sahu, Snehalata Rath, Purna Chandra Mishra, and Indira Patnaik are to be honoured at the fair.
While the other two book fairs will honour writers, the Rajdhani book fair will promote literature by featuring an exhaustive collection of new books. President of the book fair organising committee Upendra Kumar Jena said more than 1,000 new books are to be unveiled at the fair.
The organisers also plan to hold programmes to create awareness about reading on the theme ‘Orissa read and proceed’ at which young readers will be encouraged to read more Oriya books.
Further, Prerna, a non-profit organisation, has proposed to set up a stall to distribute saplings among people buying books at the fair. The initiative is aimed at creating the awareness that for every book made a tree is getting cut elsewhere. They aim to promote tree plantation through the drive.
The coming of the book fairs has piqued the curiosity of many a book lover. Madhusmita Behera, a college student, said she could not wait to be at the fairs; the same applied for Sushmita Pradhan a housewife who lives near Janata Maidan where the Ekamra book fair will be held. “Every year, whenever I get time, I walk down to the fair and make it a point to buy books of my favourite writers. This year I will take my children, too, with me,” she said.
