Shrinking but more energetic book fairs

Even though the book expos across the world are shrinking in size, the enthusiasm amongst the publishing industry and the book lovers seems to be the same. Bigwigs in the industry seem to steal the limelight with beautiful stalls at the show. While, smaller players attract visitors with economically priced or niche segment books. It is a medley of sorts – from the most expensive books to the least expensive books. The visitors are also varied – intellectuals, researchers, librarians, teachers, educators, students and general public at large.

The recently concluded Delhi Book Fair 2017 was a delight for book lovers as they could find a huge array of books. Though there were fewer exhibitors this time, but nevertheless the fair proved to be a book paradise for book lovers.

The much-awaited Frankfurt Book Fair is here and in this highly political year, the Frankfurter Buchmesse is establishing itself more than ever as a seismograph of global social developments. “When world affairs become confusing, when deep rifts mark most societies and when fake news challenges journalistic reporting, the desire for trustworthy sources of information, solid knowledge and well-researched news grows. This makes publishers enormously important – a responsibility they know they have,” said Juergen Boos of Frankfurt Book Fair. So, in this internet age, people are now realizing the need and importance of books for reliable and authentic information.

The bookings for New Delhi World Book Fair 2018 have started and on the first day itself, 300 stalls were booked, which is a clear indication that exhibitors look forward to such events. The enthusiasm of the industry is much evident at such book fairs as they start their preparations well in advance, with new releases and author events to attract more visitors to their stands.

Let us all continue our noble profession of disseminating knowledge and information.

Happy publishing!

Sonal Khurana
sonal@smediagroup.in