DBF to have participants from AP

This year, the Delhi Book Fair will address the erosion of the reading habit as its theme, "Libraries and Readerships", will focus on the role of libraries in society.

Since 1995 by the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP) in collaboration with the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) is organising the nine-day fair that attracts over 250 participants from India and abroad. Elaborating on the theme, Ashok Gupta, General Secretary of FIP said, "Good libraries were once considered treasures of society. They were part of us, but today reading habits of people are going down. We wanted to raise this issue and so we decided to make it the theme of our fair."

"The aim is to develop neighbourhood libraries. If people work in tandem, it is possible to start from the local area and have small library set-ups," he added. Apart from the national capital, that dominates the publishing industry, participation of publishers from Agartala, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, and international participants from the US and China will mark the business-to-business event at Pragati Maidan in central Delhi.

Other than displaying treasure troves of books from various genres, there will be discussions on "Library and the Reader", poetry sessions, a seminar on "Tales for Today's Children: Connecting to the Roots" and an interactive programme for children "Sune, Jane, Khele Kahani". There will also be a debate organised for university students, on "Environmental Disaster caused due to Development of Vulnerable Hilly Areas". The fair will end on August 31.