40th International Kolkata Book Fair from January 25

The 40th International Kolkata Book Fair will be inaugurated in presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Bolivion author Magela Baudoin at Milan Mela Ground on January 25.

There will be 600 stalls at fair premises. The five halls have been named after five litterateurs — Bijoya Roy, Amitabha Chowdhury, Badal basu, Utpal Kumar basu and Suchitra Bhattacharya — who died in 2015. 

There will be free bus services from Park Circus to the fair ground. Apart from a Wi fi zone for journalists, the CESC has also created the International Kolkata Bok fair 2016 mobile app to locate any stall in the fair.

A heritage walk will be organized along a specified path to make people aware of the rich heritage of the fair and the important events that had happened in the past 39 years. 

Medical teams will be there to look after the visitors who fall sick. 

There will be food stalls and special measures will be taken by the state government to ensure that the fair ground is dust free.

A writers’ meet will take place on January 28 where Indian and Vitenam authors will participate. The CESC author’s corner will be set up from where 10,000 gift coupons will be given to the lucky winners through lottery. A special literary CESC Sahitya Samman will be given to an author selected jointly by the guild and CESC. 

In order to boost the book sales, the organisers will employ marketing measures, including discounts and lottery.

“There has been an effect of the digital medium on the sale of books. Many people see books at the store and then go and buy them online. What we are trying to do is to bring more people closer to books and increase sales,” organiser Tridib Chatterjee told reporters here on Monday.