The 44th World Book Fair ended on a very positive note on Sunday as thousands of bookworms and loyal readers thronged to the fair to to strike the best deals and grab their favourite books.
The annual book fair, organised at Pragati Maidan, had around 2,500 stalls belonging to around 800 publishers from India and 20 international publishers this year.
The weekend crowd had gathered at the fair, hoping to get some good deals on the last day.
“I knew it was going to be crowded but I had to come because I couldn’t make it on the working days,” said Paridhi Khandelwal, a student, as she was busy picking a book by author Sophie Kinsella.
“Also last year, on the last day of the fair, I got good discounts and bought books in pretty less price. The end time buying proves out to be beneficial all the time,” she added.
Kunal Kapania from Uttam Nagar, who came along with his two kids said, “The kids were very keen on visiting the book fair, so I bought them here. We have been coming here from the last four years.”
“The children’s pavilion is a must visit for kids. I bought two copies of colouring books and the whole Harry Potter book set. It is a good platform for book lovers as it encourages reading habit,” he added.
According to the publishers, this year, there has been a rise in the sale of children’s book and the youngsters have showed interest in books.
The children’s pavilion especially remained a favourite spot among kids and parents also. Along with focus on children, this year’s theme ‘Manushi’ was aimed at highlighting books written by women writers on women. Also, the Author’s Corner gave the visitors a chance to sit and listen to the authors who spoke about their books.
Cultural events like classical dance performances and documentary on Shakespeare were also organised during the fair. Events like storytelling sessions, poetry recitation, painting competition , etc were also organised for kids which got the maximum attention.
Though demonetisation and the resultant cash crunch cast its shadow on the book fair, it could not affect the spirit of book-lovers. While many stalls had card-swiping machine, others opted for digital payment through Paytm.
As the fair ended at 5 pm, people left the venue with a sense of lingering nostalgia and hope of returning next year for more books.
As the New Delhi World Book Fair comes to a close on Sunday, the nine-day long event was an “excellent” experience with leading publishing houses making significant profit on sales compared to previous years. Vimal Kumar, General Manager at Speaking Tiger said they had “unexpected sales”, despite facing several technical glitches in the aftermath of demonetisation.
“Due to demonetisation we faced several problems since many a times card machines didn’t work due to lack of signals. But, it has been an excellent experience, rather unexpected sales for Speaking Tiger. Our sales have almost doubled this year,” he said.
Some of the top sellers at the stall included ‘Himalaya: Adventures, Meditations, Life’ edited by Ruskin Bond and Namita Gokhale, and ‘Murderer in Mahim’ by Jerry Pinto among others.
For Penguin India, which saw a hike of nearly 20 per cent in business from last year’s fair, the event being moved ahead by a month from the usual February, has worked favourably.
“The book fair used to be held in February until a couple of years ago and this move into January has actually helped the sales due to extended winter break in schools, festivals, etc. There is a carnival like atmosphere at the Pragati Maidan,” Nandan Jha, Vice president, Product and Sales at Penguin Random House India, said.