KOLKATA: If you are a Bengali or remotely connected to this state, we are sure you had to pick a side—Argentina or Brazil—during the FIFA World Cup. Just as a Bengali meal is incomplete without maach and bhaat (fish and rice), no football conversation is complete without Argentina’s legends Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi in this part of the country. And now for the first time, this football crazy nation of South America will be the focal theme country at the 49th International Kolkata Book Fair.
“We sincerely believe that this will contribute towards building stronger bilateral cultural relationships between the two countries,” said Sudhangshu Sekhar Dey, president, Publishers & Booksellers Guild. Interestingly, Argentina’s hero Messi will be in Kolkata this December. “Maradona and Messi have such a craze in Bengal and Messi will soon be in the City of Joy. Argentina has always found love in this city be it football or literature and we are glad to be the focal theme country at the Kolkata Book Fair 2026,” said Andrés Sebastián Rojas, head of the Political and Cultural Section of the Embassy of Argentina in India.
Like previous years, the fair will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on January 22. To continue till February 3, the book fair will have a children’s pavilion, and an international complex at Boimela Prangan in Salt Lake.
2027 will be the golden jubilee year of the Kolkata Book Fair and to make it special, the Guild members have called for entries from photographers who have covered this annual festival from 1976 to 1996. Publications from various countries like Great Britain, USA and Germany will be present alongside several national publications.
In 2025, 27 lakh book lovers visited the fair with the sales amounting to Rs 23 crores. But this year, the Guild hasn’t been able to increase the number of stalls. Also, the Guild members didn’t confirm the participation of Bangladesh.