PVLF 2025

Over 20 Countries to Participate in the Upcoming International Kolkata Book Fair 2023

A book bumper library lottery will also be held as part of a program named "buy books and win a book library."
on Jan 24, 2023

The new International Kolkata Book Fair 2023 would have 900 hundred booths, enhanced CCTV coverage, a few kiosks funded by the national jute board to limit plastic waste, a separate bus terminal for tourists, a security watchtower, and bio-toilets. The IKBF 23 websites will stream live coverage of the book fair activities this year.

The Boimela Prangan, or book fairground, is being put up with only nine days till the Book Fair opens. There will be 200 Little Magazine stands and 700 book stalls among the 900 exhibitors.

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest and draws the most visitors, while the Book Fair, more often referred to as the Boi Mela in Bengali, is the second.

The second-largest book expo in the world will be opened by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at 2:00 p.m. on January 30 in the presence of Mara José Gálvez Salvador, director general of books and reading promotion for the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports.

A well-known Bengali novelist, Shri Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay, who will also receive the CESC RP Goenka Shrishti Samman, will be present.

Visitors can attend the event from January 31 to February 12. The 9th Kolkata Literature Festival will take place in the SBI Auditorium on the Book Fair 2023 grounds from February 9 to 11, with Spain serving as the event's focus nation.

At least 20 nations worldwide will participate in the book expo, and Thailand will attend the expo for the first time.

Tridib Kumar Chatterjee, Honorary General Secretary of the Booksellers and Publishers Guild, the fair's organizer, noted in a conversation with NewsClick that this year the Guild had given booths to many more new small and medium publishers.

The IBKF 23 will include nine entry and exit gates for simple visitor flow.

A copy of Spain's renowned Toledo Gate will be one of the gates. The Biswabangla Gate, based on the name of the state administration led by Mamata Banerjee, would be one of the gates.

In honor of the bicentennial of the poets' births, the two major halls of the book fair, which feature primarily English books, have been named Michael Madhusudan Dutta and Pyaricharan Sarkar. To commemorate the centennial of novelist and editor Ramapada Choudhury's birth, the Little Magazine stalls will bear his name.

There will also be two open stages named after the late directors Tarun Majumdar and Mrinal Sen, as well as a WiFi-enabled HDFC ERGO press nook. In honor of the famed limerick book's 100th anniversary, "Abol Tabol," penned by Satyajit Roy's father, Sukumar Roy, will be the inspiration for the children's pavilion.

The bookfair organizers have received assurances from the transportation division that there would be more buses this year. For the first time this year, there will be a direct metro link between the close-by Central Park and Karunamoyee stations and Sealdah station. The Bidhan Nagar police will also organize the local autorickshaw fairs for the book fair.

The state forest department has stepped forward to make the book fair, environmentally clean, and green.

First, one of the sponsors of the book fair, Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation, is also working on the IBKF 23 Android APP.

There will be daily lotteries from which free book gift coupons worth Rs. 15000 each day will be awarded to lottery winners.

A book bumper library lottery will also be held as part of a program named "buy books and win a book library." Several winners will receive book vouchers worth Rs. 25,000 apiece to purchase books from the fair and build their libraries. There will be free access to broadband services and e-connectivity in some areas of the exhibition.

The highlights of the infrastructure that is being prepared were stated by Chatterjee. "On the chief minister's orders, the chief secretary convened a meeting of key players in Nabanna. Representatives from the departments of information and cultural affairs, security, the fire brigade, health, and urban development, the KMDA, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, and the West Bengal Electricity Board were present at the meeting, he added.

The quantity of CCTV cameras will be enhanced to expand the vigil coverage. There will be built-up distinct Book Fair bus terminals. In order to prevent severe traffic congestion at the Karunamoyee crossing and its vicinity during the fair, traffic control will also be managed.

"Food booths will be positioned close to the water feature outside the fairground. The newest publishers have ever attended the Book Fair this year, according to Sudhangshu Sekhar Dey, president of the Publishers and Booksellers Guild.

Nearly 900 more spots are now available. Small, medium and big booths are available. Bangladesh and other overseas participants are included in this. There will be English-language literature in two halls. There will be participation from all international and domestic publishers, including Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Hachette, Bloomsbury, and Pan Macmillan. Boi Porun, Boi Kinun, Boi Upohaar Din (Read Books, Buy Books, Gift Books) is the slogan, according to Chatterjee.

The Boimela Prangan is now easier to visit because of the recently established Metro Sealdah-Sector V service. Chatterjee continued, "We are also asking the authorities to run the Metro on Sundays during the Book Fair and with more regularity.