International Kolkata Book Fair 2025 to have around 1K stalls, about 20 countries to participate

KOLKATA: The 48th International Kolkata Book Fair, set to be inaugurated on January 28, 2025, at 4 pm by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, promises to be a grand literary celebration. Held at the Boimela Prangan in Salt Lake, the fair will feature around 1,000 stalls and little magazines. Last year, too, the book fair had 1000-plus stalls. Around 20 countries worldwide will also set up their stalls.

On Monday, Barbara Voss, Consul General of Germany in Kolkata and Astrid Wege, Director, Goethe Institute, Kolkata along with the Guild members unveiled the mascot of the book fair. To ensure smooth movement for bibliophiles, the fair will also have nine entry and exit gates.

Aligning with Germany as the focal country, one gate will be named after renowned German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, while another will honour the German-born philologist and Orientalist Max Mueller.

This year, the book fair is becoming an open-air book fair in its true sense. There will be no halls where earlier the English language publishers used to be present. Instead, there will be a designated ‘premier area’ for all English language participants. At the same time for the convenience of the English language participants, the Guild has drastically reduced the contribution amount for the stalls.

“The book fair will also celebrate the birth centenary of Narayan Sanyal, Salil Chowdhury, Ritwik Ghatak, Tapan Sinha, Arundhuti Debi and the 125th birth year of Kazi Nazrul Islam and Jibananda Das,” said Tridib Kumar Chatterjee, President, Publishers & Booksellers Guild. As in previous years, the Guild has made special arrangements for senior book lovers by designating February 4, 2025, as ‘Chiro Tarun,’ a day dedicated to senior citizens. Similarly, Children’s Day will be celebrated on February 2, 2025.

To keep up with digital trends, the Guild will launch an Android app, created by Sister Nivedita University, to help visitors easily find stalls using Google location. The book fair will also be available online through its website and social media pages. With Sister Nivedita University as the digital partner, people living abroad can enjoy the events and programmes virtually.