New Delhi World Book Fair concludes with record sales and visitors

New Delhi World Book Fair 2016 was successfully held from January 9-17, 2016 with record number of people visiting the fair and publishers achieving record sales. It also ended on a positive note that the love for books remains undiminished and the books are here to stay, be it in the form of printed books or e-books.

Impressive statistics…

Inauguration of NDWBF ’16This year over eleven lakh booklovers visited the fair, which is the record number of people visiting the fair. About one thousand publishers, distributors and booksellers of major Indian languages and English from across the country participated. They were happy with the response of readers at the Fair as this time they had a record sales. Even, the National Book Trust, India had a good sales for about Rs 80 lakh as compared to last year’s sales figure of Rs 50 lakh. The Fair is being organised by the National Book Trust, India in collaboration with the India Trade Promotion Organisation.

The inauguration…

“We believe in Athithi Devo Bhavaa and we worship the guests. We hope that the Chinese will feel at home in India,” said Smriti Zubin Irani, hon’ble minister of human resource development, Govt of India while welcoming China as the Guest of Honour country at the inauguration of NDWBF. Talking about the India-China relationship since ancient times she said that there is a mention of Chinese silk dress in Arthashastra which shows how Indian history finds resonance of relationship with China. She hoped that both the countries will not only exchange culture but also knowledge and strengthen ties. Irani appreciated efforts undertaken by the NBT, India to bring out 16 new titles under the Navlekhan series and hoped that NBT would publish books in 22 major Indian languages. She also said that the children from various states of India including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Manipur, Assam among others with select photographers would be sent as shodh yatris to foreign countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and their memoir will be published in the form of books. She also appreciated that for the school children, senior citizens and people with special needs, the entry to the book fair is free.

Theme Pavilion“The Vedas are the first record of culture not only of India but also the world, said S L Bhyrappa, eminent author at the inaugural function. Elucidating the role that the epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata have played in enriching the culture of India, Bhyrappa said, “The poets, writers, artists and scholars have been inspired heavily from the scriptures. Indian dance forms like Kathakali, Bharatnatyam, Odissi rely on these scriptures for theme. They have become the criteria of dance and music.” Bhyrappa also felt that efforts should be made to make Sanskrit a language of communication, administration and science & technology.

Sun Shoushan, vice minister, SAPPFRT, China said that New Delhi World Book Fair 2016 has set up an important platform for the cultural exchanges and mutual understanding all over the world. He remarked that the publishing exchanges between China and India have played an important role in cementing the relationships between people and promoting cultural exchanges.

Baldeo Bhai Sharma, chairman, NBT informed that the theme pavilion will display books beginning from bhoj patra to e-books and will also display ancient scripts. While, L C Goyal, CMD, ITPO hoped that the New Delhi World Book Fair will go a long way in dissementing the culture of India.

Event @ China PavilionSeminar on co-operationLiu Zhenyou, eminent Chinese author; Le Yucheng, Chinese Ambassador to India and Vinay Sheel Oberoi, secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development Govt of India also spoke on the occasion. Earlier, Dr Rita Chowdhury, director, NBT welcomed the guests present on the occasion. She hoped that through books, booklovers especially the young will get an opportunity to connect with the cultural heritage of India.

Events galore…

Besides books, over 2,000 literary events including book release functions, seminars, panel discussions, poets’ meet were organised by the National Book Trust, India along with the publishers and the foreign publishers. A good number of authors, children’s writers, poets including Manglesh Dabral, Darashan Singh Asht, Manorama Jafa, Marion Molteno, Subhadra Sengupta among others interacted with the booklovers at the author’s corners and other literary events.

Theme Pavilion…

This year, the theme of New Delhi World Book Fair was the ‘Cultural Heritage of India.’ The Theme Pavilion emphasised on the philosophy, knowledge traditions and multilingual literary practices which have shaped the culture and civilisation of not only India but have impacted the same beyond the boundaries of India for thousands of years. The architecture of the exhibition was designed to connect the past with the present.

T h e Theme Pa v i l i o n displayed more than 800 titles on Indian art, culture, music, dance, philosophy in various Indian languages. The old manuscripts like Ramayan Lanka Kanda by Srimata Sankardeva, Atharva Veda among others were displayed at the Pavilion. A number of activities were organised at the Pavilion. The handwritten lipis (manuscripts) on bhojpatra, the books on culture, tradition and scholars like Rigveda, Tulsidas, literary & cultural programmes and dramatic performances on Indian classical texts like Narsinh Mehta, Shah Jo Risalo at the Pavilion, attracted the booklovers to the Theme Pavilion.

China Pavilion…

The exhibitions at the China Pavilion on Chinese Tea culture, Chinese books and publishing industry connected readers with the Chinese culture and literature. China was the guest of honour country at the New Delhi World Book Fair 2016 and its delegation included more than 80 publishing houses and groups. More than 10,000 copies of 5000 titles were on display at the Pavilion. The visitors had a look at the India-China cultural exchanges as well as had a glimpse of Chinese book publishing industry and their culture at the exhibitions at the Pavilion including China- India Cultural Contacts Photo Exhibition, Publishing and Printing in Ancient China Exhibition, Chinese Tea Culture Exhibition and the Original Illustrations for children.

China also organised a number of events including book release, seminars, discussions etc. for booklovers, authors and publishers at the Pavilion. Launch ceremony of the seven language (Chinese, English, Russian, French, Spanish, Arabic & Japanese) versions of The Main Battlefield of the East was held at the China Pavilion. The book is adapted from a large-scale documentary of the same name which was broadcast on CCTV in 2015. Zhang Zhihong, cultural counsellor, Embassy of China; Li Yan, vice president of China Publishing Group; Wu Wei, vice general manager of China National Publishing Import & Export Corporation among others were the speakers on the occasion.

While, China Social Sciences Press organised the launch of the English edition of China Insights. This book gives a comprehensive analysis of the contemporary Chinese society starting from economy to culture, including the introduction of Chinese path, theories and systems. Lifi Publications and Anhui People’s Publishing House (China) organised The Colorful Silk Road: a Promotion Event for Books and Products on Chinese Folklore Culture at the China pavilion. During the event an agreement between both publishers was signed for the publishing of ten titles including Highlights of China, and Talk the Silk Road.

Children Pavilion

While, the Children’s Pavilion remained the hub of activities for and by children where the young children not only interacted with the authors but also participated in the workshops and enjoyed the children’s films screened at the Pavilion. Several activities for and by children were being organised at the Pavilion by the Trust in collaboration with various schools, NGO and other organisations working in the field. The children got an opportunity to meet their favourite authors, illustrators, have reading and storytelling sessions with them, participate in the workshops on creative writing, illustrations etc. For the children’s writers, teachers, librarians, panel discussions, seminars were also being organised.

Other special features of the Pavilion included the Illustrator’s Corner put up the Riyaz Academy to encourage young artists, a corner for children as well as teachers by IL&FS informing about the learning aids, a corner by Care India making people aware about the need to educate children especially girls; Reading Corner where the booklovers can read books and know about the National Centre for Children’s Literature Library which has a collection of books on children’s literature etc in Indian as well as foreign languages.

Cultural activities…

A number of cultural activities were performed during the show including recital of Buddhist devotional songs by Dialogue of Wisdom; Baul song, folk music from West Bengal by Kartik Das and troupe; presentation of Kathakali by Evoor Rajendran Pillai & troupe on Lord Krishna and Draupadi; Kamsale folk dance by S Rajashekhar & troupe; etc.

Book release and book reading sessions…

The Authors Corners at the fair saw many new book releases as well as sessions on book reading and book discussions. Visitors were happy to meet and interact with their favourite authors.

New Delhi Rights Table The B2B event for the publishers, the New Delhi Rights Table was being organised from January 11-12, 2016. In this event, more than 60 publishers from India and foreign countries including Egypt, Nepal, China, Malaysia and Indonesia participated. While welcoming the guests, Baldeo Bhai Sharma, chairman, NBT said that the Rights Table provides an opportunity to publishers to meet with each other at one place. He wished them success in their endeavour

Discussion on Navlekhan Series @ NDWBF

A discussion based on the books published under the Navlekhan series by National Book Trust, India to promote young authors was organised at the Theme Pavilion. The compilers of the books Gurahari Das (Odia), Bibhash Chowdhry (Asamiya), Joy D’Cruz (Tamil), Amar Mitra (Bangla) and Dr K S Ravi Kumar (Malayalam) were the speakers on the occasion. Baldeo Bhai Sharma, chairman, NBT chaired the session. He said that the Navlekhan Series is an attempt to encourage young writers and provide them a meaningful platform to publish their works. The speakers on the occasion talked about the new generation of writers. They opined that the young writers are still in the process of defining their narrative style and delimiting their zones in matters of theme and culture. They do not dwell upon romantic ideas rather they talk about serious matters concerning the society. Sixteen books have been brought out by NBT, ten in Hindi and six in regional languages which were released at the New Delhi World Book Fair.

S. Chand is looking at both organic and inorganic growth’

shares Himanshu Gupta, joint managing director, S. Chand in conversation with ABP.

Major education content provider, S. Chand and Company Private Limited (S. Chand) has raised US$ 27 million financing from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and existing investor, the Everstone Group. On asking about the areas where this funding will be used, Himanshu Gupta, joint managing director, S. Chand, shared, “We will use the funding for committed and future acquisitions, which we have already signed, besides using it for organic growth of the company. The investment will also be used to scale-up operations in education publishing and the digital education space which will enable S. Chand t o r each mo r e s t u d e n t s , i n addition to creating skilled jobs.”

Talking further, he said, “We already have acquired major national publishing companies and are now looking at state board publishers. We will be focussing our energies and resources in this direction. Besides, we are also thinking of starting a new division to invest into publishing for international schools as well.”

Coming to the higher education market, Himanshu shared, “Higher education market is getting tough as many management institutes have shut down and there are lesser admissions in engineering & management, but Test Prep market is growing and we are focusing on it. We have also started a new series – S. Chand Exam Prep series. We feel higher education will come back in engineering & management.” On asking about whether they are planning to foray into books on skilling, he replied, “We might start books on vocational training and skilling in near future as we see a lot of market for such books.”

S. Chand has recently created a new app – MyStudygear. “Mystudygear is an app, where we have added a lot of ebooks, content, videos, animation etc. which helps a student to understand the concept. They can browse it free and can even buy a premium version,” told Himanshu. “Education is and will always be our main focus,” he added. Talking about NDWBF, he shared that it is a good experience and meet a lot of direct customers like librarians and teachers. “It is not just for sale but for promotion and getting the feedback from our customers,” concluded Himanshu.

GBD Books @ NDWBF ‘16

GBD Books organized a series of events at the NDWBF 16. These included Symposium on Xi Jinping: The Governance of China, which was organized by Foreign Languages Press (FLP). The event commenced with FLP president Xu Bu hosting the symposium, followed by address by Sun Shoushan, deputy minister of SAPPRFT and Yue Yucheng, Chinese Ambassador in India. Dr Hemant K. Adlakha from Jawaharlal Nehru University and Lu Cairong, vice president of CIPG, also addressed the audience.

While, Xi Jinping: Wit and Vision – Selected Quotations and Commentary (English Edition) was launched by Foreign Languages Press (FLP) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press. FLP president Xu Bu; Lu Cairong, vice president of CIPG; Liu Jinsong, minister of the Chinese Embassy in India; Aravind Yelery, associate fellow of ICS; Han Jianmin, president of Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press; Xu Zhengming, deputy director of the Administration Bureau of Publication of SAPPRFT, addressed the audience.

Another book launched by GBD was The Scent of Sea Spray. Lu Cairong, vice president of CIPG; Xu Bu, president & editor-in-chief of FLP; and Chu Jiwang, the author, addressed the gathering.

GBD Books also organized a promotion events for two of their books -Up and Out of Poverty —Selected Speeches of Xi Jinping in Fujian (1988-1990) and Buddhist Records of the Western World (Hindi Edition), followed by the Right-licensing Signing Ceremony. All the events were well-attended by book lovers.

GLOBALOCAL Talk @NDWBF2016

Like every year at the New Delhi World Book Fair, the German Book Office New Delhi (the South Asia node of the Frankfurt Book Fair) set up its stand and organised interactions and discussions to add to the scope and excitement which characterises the time around the book fair. This year’s GLOBALOCAL Talk, with its international markets focus was a success and allowed for an insider’s view of publishing markets like France, China, Germany, and UK to be shared amongst a full house audience of publishers, distributors, agents and authors.

“GLOBALOCAL Talks” aims to bring together the most impressing practitioners from the trade to present their ideas and experiences. Since ideas are the most powerful tools people have, this is an endeavour to present these ideas and stimulate conversations about the changing face of the content industry. And this was evident at the 3rd edition of GLOBALOCALTalk which revolved around the theme – Go Global – Rights, Distribution and content! The session had insights and top tips on how to successfully contract rights with global publishers from France, Germany, China, UK etc. Speakers from France, Germany, UK gave presentations which led to discussions on Trading Rights Globally. To bring up the finale, there was David Taylor, SVP, Ingram Content Group who spoke to demystify the global distribution strategy for local publishers.

The day of GLOBALOCAL Talk culminated in an evening of Beer & Banter at the Goethe Institut/ Max Mueller Bhavan, New Delhi where a lovely collection of books on beer culture, flown in by GBO from Germany, were showcased and accompanied by an exhilarating talk on beer and art of brewing by Rahul Singh (CEO, founder of The Beer Café). Professionals from the world of publishing and allied industries enjoyed this light evening and engaged in some interesting discussions as well.