She was speaking at the inauguration of the ten-day Pune Book Fair organised by the National Book Trust. She has been making frequent trips to the city since March last year for the cause of the denotified tribals of Baramati urging people to spare a thought for their plight and write about them. Recollecting her forty-year-old association with Pune where she first came as a fourteen-year-old full of romantic ideals, Mahashweta Devi said Bengal and Maharashtra shared a common love for literature.

It was wonderful to watch over 40,000 people come for a book event in Pali where as it is difficult to gather even 300 people for a similar event in Bengal, she said, ruing the dying culture of gifting books in the State. Earlier, books were gifted at birth and even weddings, but the habit is slowly dying, she lamented.

Citing the Warkari tradition as an example of the local folk culture, the Magsaysay award winner urged publishers and authors to come forward and preserve these songs on paper for future generations. Eminent film and theatre personality Dr Shreeram Lagoo revealed that he would have lost his mind when he entered the film industry but for his association with books. He remembered the times when he spent precious hours reading while he waited for the film stars to arrive on the sets.

Dr Sumetheendra Nadig, chairman of National Book Trust was also present.