BHUBANESWAR: For the first time, Harper Collins India collaborated with city based bookstore Walking BookFairs, to sponsor a free library in the capital city.
Opened Sunday, this is the first time that a publisher and a bookstore have come together to start a free library to make books more accessible for people in Indian cities. On the occasion, author Rajesh Patil had a special reading from his book ‘Maa I’ve Become a Collector’.
Akshaya Routray of Walking BookFairs said, “We believe in inculcating and instilling the reading habit among the masses. The Walking BookFairs-Harper Collins Free Library has been designed as an inclusive, safe, fun space that is open to all, irrespective of their social and economic backgrounds. It is our hope that people will come together, share ideas, and create a beautiful new world through books, poetry, stories, art and cinema.”
“The library will house about 500 of the best books from various genres published by Harper Collins, among other books in English, Hindi and Odia. There will also be a children’s section with delightful books for children of all ages to encourage reading for pleasure in young children, which will help nurture empathetic, sensitive individuals with a better understanding of the self and the world around them,” he said.
In an audio-visual message, Ananth Padmanabhan, CEO, Harper Collins India, said libraries are essential spaces in a healthy society. The library is housed in a bookstore which makes it even more fun. It is going to be a must visit place for people visiting Odisha from all over the world.
The association between Walking BookFairs and Harper Collins India began in 2015–16 when the latter was one of the three publishers who part-supported the Walking BookFairs ‘Read More India’ campaign – a 90-day pan-India tour taking 4000 titles in a book truck around 20 states of India.
In 2018–19, Harper Collins again supported a unique campaign by Walking BookFairs – ‘Poems On The Road’ – India’s first-ever travelling poetry library and bookstore which travelled to 30 Indian cities across 20 states with a van carrying 500 of the best poetry books from around the world and conducted open mics on the road, in public spaces, in universities, schools and colleges to make poetry books accessible and also promote the idea that bookstores and libraries are democratic physical spaces where everybody is equal and welcome.
Satabdi of Walking Bookfairs said, “Our journey is a tiny effort to change this situation. We are trying to make books available to as many people as possible and this free library will help us do that in a big way.”