Towards a bigger & better New Delhi World Book Fair 2012 Towards a bigger & better New Delhi World Book Fair 2012

The countdown for the New Delhi World Book Fair 2012 has started…. The show looks promising with new brand image, better foreign participation and studded with literary events and book launches. The icing on the cake is the international rights exhibition on books on Indian cinema, which is sure to attract the glitterati from cinema as well. To be held at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi from February 25 to March 4, 2012, the 20th edition of New Delhi World book Fair is poised to be the best. The show is organized by the National Book Trust (NBT), India which is leaving no stone unturned to make this show a bigger and definitely better than previous years.

As per MA Sikandar, director, NBT, the fair has a new brand image this time. The logo has been redesigned to give it a fresh international look. “We have created a series of ad campaigns not only in print but also on radio and social networking sites, to attract a wider participation,” he added.

The 2010 edition of the New Delhi World Book Fair was spread over an area of 42,000 sq m and showcased more than 1,200 exhibitors from India and abroad. “This time, more than 1,500 exhibitors would be participating in the fair, with around 30 foreign exhibitors as against 12 last year,” he shared.

As a first for this show, National Book Trust and German Book Office, New Delhi are organising a ‘Rights Table’ event during February 28-29, 2012 at the fair grounds to encourage exchange of copyright of books among Indian languages including English. It will also tackle major issues and challenges in the area of rights and licences. It will look at discussing the many aspects of Rights in the world of books, from translation to digital, from author contracts to translation grants. It will also look at participation at international trade fairs and how to make the most of it. The unique platform will also provide the opportunity for Indian language publishers to discuss rights and contracts individually with other Indian and international language publishers.

“Besides, there would be over 50 literary events covering diverse range of subjects pertaining to the publishing industry,” told Sikandar. Besides, visitors can look forward to a lot of new book launches at the show, including a book by Kapil Sibal.

Not only this, Delhi Government would be actively participating in the show under their ongoing project ‘100 Years of Making of New Delhi.’ “Similarly, Ministry of Culture will be actively involved and will showcase Tagore books, as a part of celebrating 150 years of Rabindranath Tagore,” shared Sikandar.

Another major attraction is the international rights exhibition on books on Indian cinema, which will draw many well-known popular personalities from Indian cinema. “Infact, we are expecting at least 30 percent more footfalls than the 2010 edition,” concluded Sikandar happily. Apart from this, Sikander also revealed that NBT is trying to provide an opportunity for Indian exhibitors to participate in overseas fair under one umbrella of Indian pavilion.

Children pavilion

a major attraction at New Delhi World Book Fair 2012 The much awaited New Delhi World Book Fair 2012 is entering the 40th year of its foundation. The World Book Fair first organised in 1972 is scheduled to have its 20th edition from February 25-March 04, 2012 in Hall Nos 1-14 at the Pragati Maidan and Children’s pavilion would be one of the major attractions at the show. The organisers National Book Trust is buzzing with preparations for this mega event. Exhibitors from more than 26 countries will be participating in more than 2,300 stalls. A special attraction of the show would be the Children’s Pavilion in Hall No. 14.

The National Council for Children Literature (NCCL) of the NBT called a special meeting on January 20, 2012 to introduce the NCCL’s plan and also to invite suggestions from various schools and NGOs working in this field including representative from All About Book Publishing (magazine on book publishing industry).

The meeting was chaired by MA Sikandar, director, NBT and Arvind Kumar, an eminent publishing professional and also former director of NBT. Sikandar emphasised that children books form the basis of reading habits and the whole publishing industry is dependent upon the reading habits of any country. Bookfairs, tradefairs and literary festivals are the epicenter of creating book mindedness. He showed concern over declining reading habits among the children and attributed it to the burden of text books which is taking them away from general reading per se.

“Childhood is the right time to catch them young so that they develop the habit of reading for the rest of their life,” he said. He also believed that all should not be left to the government and we as a society also have a responsibility and a role to play.”

While, Arvind Kumar expressed his views on the present scenario of reading habits. He mentioned a survey which presents a very dismal picture of India as a reading nation. He opined that NCERT can play a prominent role by making text books more interesting and student friendly. He also stressed that rural India should be the focus as these rural children need to fit in the urban scenario with the help of developing reading habit.

Farida M Nayak, joint director of NBT informed that NBT is organising a national seminar on an issue concerning children literature. There will be two special issues of Readers’ Club Times and a ‘book march’ will be organised where thousands of school children will participate to create awareness about books and reading. The children pavilion will also hold an exhibition of selected children books in Indian languages including English.

The organisers also shared that the promotion of the book fair will be given a professional touch. The activities of the fair will be highlighted on FM Radio, TV and print media. Besides, various innovative methods would be employed to make the fair a grand success. The arrangement of the stalls would see a huge improvement over previous years and will be visitor friendly. Book fair merchandise will also be available as mementos for the visitors to the New Delhi World Book Fair.

– GS Jolly

There’s something for everyone at London Book Fair

Now in its 41st year, the London Book Fair continues to be the global market place for rights negotiation and the sales and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels. Scheduled to be held from April 16-18, 202 at Earls Court, London, the London Book Fair 2012 will showcase 2,000 international exhibiting companies and will organise over 250 seminars and events. It is set to attract over 24,500 publishing professionals, who can attend comprehensive and varied educational seminars, interviews, workshops and demonstrations taking place throughout the London Book Fair.

The London Book Fair serves the whole of the publishing industry. The exhibitors would include from a cross-section of segments like publishers, literary agents, content providers, digital solutions, wholesalers, distributors, online service providers, non-book product suppliers, service providers for publishers, suppliers for booksellers, book packagers and remainder and promotional dealers.

The London Book Fair Market Focus initiative is a key opportunity for UK and international publishers to liaise with their foreign counterparts, and seek out and capitalise on new business partnerships. This time, the China Market Focus and the associated cultural programme will place a spotlight on contemporary China authors and China as an important publishing arena.

The 2012 edition will see a Digital Minds Conference, where visitors can choose from sessions on cutting-edge thinking on mobile opportunities, content platforms, new business models and innovative distribution solutions. There would be panel discussions, dynamic discussion and networking sessions.

While, the Love Learning seminar and events will cover a variety of topics like digitization to libraries, legal issues and territoriality, children’s publishing, self-publishing, literary translations, Author of the Day interviews and culinary demonstrations – infact there will be something for everyone! Besides, ‘An Introduction to Rights Workshop’ will have a dedicated panel of experts to offer insight and advice for selling rights in an increasingly complex landscape.

Indian exhibitors@London Book Fair*