“There were publishers who were ready to participate in the Kolkata Book Fair. But since it didn’t take place, the outstation publishers were not in a position to go back without selling their books. They had already spent a good amount of money for coming here,” a senior official of the academy gave the reason for holding this fair.
At present, two outstation publishers — The National Council For Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL) and Maharashtra-based Saifee Publishers — have participated in the fair apart from local publishing houses.
The fair, which was inaugurated on Monday, has only seven stalls, but a wide range of books in Urdu language. The collection includes literature, textbooks, children’s books, translations, research-publications and the all-time favourite books on Urdu shairee (poetry).
As the fair has been organised at a very short notice, there are other publishers who could not participate. “We are contacting Sahitya Academy and others. We have the capacity to include many more participants,” said Afzal Ahmed, secretary of the academy.
As per available estimates, there are over 80 lakh Urdu speakers residing in North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas, Hooghly, Asansol, Ranigunj, Islampur and Kolkata and such an event can expect a strong participation if organised properly, feel academy officials.
Overwhelmed by the footfall and reasonably good sales on the first day of the fair, the academy is now considering converting it into an annual event.
“Last year, a national level book fair was organised in the city by the NCPUL without coordination. This year, the academy took the initiative. We are assessing if such an event can take place annually,” Ahmed added.