The Calcutta Book Fair (now renamed Kolkata Book Fair in English, and officially Kolkata Boi Mela in romanized Bengali, Bengali: কলকাতা বই েমলা) is a winter fair in Calcutta. It is a unique book fair in the sense of not being a trade fair - the book fair is primarily for the general public rather than whole-sale distributors. It is the world's largest non-trade book fair, Asia's largest book fair and the most attended book fair in the world. It is the world's third largest annual conglomeration of books after the Frankfurt Book Fair and the London Book Fair. Many Calcuttans consider the book fair an inherent part of Calcutta, and instances of people visiting the fair every day during its duration is not uncommon. The fair also has a typical fairground experience with a book flavour - with the presence of picnickers, singer-songwriters, and candy floss vendors on the fair premises. With a total footfall of over 2 million people, it is world's largest book fair by attendance.
The success of the Calcutta Book Fair has resulted in many book fairs in smaller cities in West Bengal like Siliguri, and was inspired, in turn, by the first World Book Fair at New Delhi in 1972.
The popularity of the Calcutta Book Fair was seminal in India being nominated the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2006, according to the Frankfurt Book Fair organizers. The book fair has been celebrated in theatre, literature, songs and limericks in Calcutta.
Inception
The book fair was started on a small scale in 1976 by the Calcutta Publishers' and Booksellers' Guild. Footfall has steadily increased over the years, and is now well in excess of a million. The book fair was started to meet the growing public demand for books, but a relative lack of bookshops in Calcutta. Even though Calcutta now has several large bookshops like Landmark, Crossword, and The Oxford Bookstore, beside the book shop district of College Street, the tradition persists and Calcutta Book Fair is growing every year.
Duration
The fair traditionally starts on the last Wednesday of January, and ends on the first or second Sunday of February (to ensure that the duration is always 12 days). It was initially a week-long event but popular demand forced authorities to extend the duration to 12 days in 2005. Even though there is usually an extended holiday in Calcutta during the period of January 23 (Netaji's birthday) to January 26 ( Republic Day of India) the fair is held at the beginning of February to overlap with the payday of most Calcuttans.
The fair typically overlaps with the Hindu festival of Saraswati Puja. Saraswati is the Goddess of Learning, and hence many Hindu households observe the day by worshipping books on that day and not touching books for any other purpose. This practice causes a lower footfall on the corresponding day in the book fair.
Venue
From 2009, the fair is being held in its new location at Milan Mela near Science City on E.M.Bypass. The initial apprehension about reduced attendance at the new site has been proven wrong. Millions are visiting the book fair in 2009. The fair used to be held on the Maidan,Calcutta's large urban park. It was being held at the Park Street end of the Maidan, due to a better road and rail network, having moved there from the other end of Maidan in 1991.
During the 1980s and early 1990s, Calcutta played host to two annual book fairs, one by the Calcutta Publishers' and Booksellers' Guild, and one by the Government of West Bengal - the Grontho Mela ('Grontho' is archaic Bengali word for book). 'Grontho Mela' used to be held in late December and continued until early January, and was the showcase for books published by Government-run publishing houses. While this was initially a rival commercial venture, the unprecedented growth of the 'Calcutta Book Fair' caused the Government of West Bengal to merge the two book fairs in 1992.
Conservation problems for the Victoria Memorial include high dust pollution, which is often accetuated by public fairs on the Maidan. The Calcutta High Court's 2004 decision to move all public fairs to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass has not been greeted with enthusiasm by fair organizers due to the present location being in the heart of Calcutta, and being very well serviced by public transport. The book fair and a few other fairs, however, were granted special permission by the Calcutta High Court to continue holding the fair on the Maidan in 2005 and 2006. However, the choice of Maidan as the annual venue for the book fair is no longer certain.
A demand for a permanent round-the-year indoor space for the fair, typically comprising only some of the stalls, had been given by the fair authorities to the Government of West Bengal. The Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, in a statement in 2005, had agreed to this request but no progress has been made on this front.
However, many Calcuttans feel that the fair will lose its ambience if it is held indoors or away from the Maidan. After a yearlong uncertainty, the world's largest non-trade book fair, has settled for Park Circus Maidan to host the literary carnival in 2008.
However, organisers of Asia's biggest book fair are still apprehensive, keeping in mind the disgrace in January 2007 when the Calcutta High Court did not allow them to host the fair at the Maidan, a vast stretch of green in the heart of the city, on environmental ground. The Publishers and Booksellers Guild had to shift the most-awaited cultural event to Salt Lake in 2007 after the city's green brigade won a legal battle to block the fair at the Maidan.
Kolkata Book Fair 2009
Scotland has beens elected the focal theme country for the 2009 Book Fair.
Participants
Most bookstalls in the book fair keep English and Bengali books. Popular book stalls include Ananda Publishers, Dey's Publishing, Deb Sahitya Kutir, and Mitra Ghosh Publishers,Pratibhas, Punashcha, Sishu Sahitya Samsad, Deep Prakashan, Tuli Kalam, Bhasha o Sahitya, Maondol Book House, Saraswato Library - among Bengali language book shops and Timely Books, Seagull Books, Rupa and Co , Penguin India, Tata McGraw Hill - among English language book shops.
Virtually all major European scientific publishers or corresponding franchisees set up shop, including Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Kluwer and Springer Verlag.
The fair also has diplomatic mission stalls, which typically display and sell books of their country. The British Council, United States Information Service, and Alliance française typically host stalls. The European Union, Bangladesh and several Latin American embassies have hosted stalls in the recent years. Due to the present Government of West Bengal being communist, and the Calcutta Publishers' and Booksellers' Guild having a significant communist influence, the Cuban embassy is usually prominently featured, with Che Guevara posters and t-shirts being commonly sold and worn in the fair.
In 2007 for the first time Romania is included among the participants. TAJ Publishing House represents it and the Romanian writer Adelina Patrichi intends to realize a series of documentaries to cover the event. Teodora Enache, one of the best jazz artists in Romania, will be as well 'present' through her music.
Most major news media in Calcutta have stalls, including The Statesman, and The Telegraph.
Calcutta institutions, which have their own press or publishing house typically host stalls - including the Indian Museum, Asiatic Society, survey institutes like Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India, Geological Survey of India, and universities like University of Calcutta, Jadavpur University and Rabindra Bharati University.
Other notable annual stalls include:
- The famous Santiniketan-based used bookseller Subarnarekha
- A stall hosted by the famous Calcutta artist Rathin Mitra, featuring his work. Rathin Mitra is famous for his panoramas of Calcutta
- The food stall of BenFish (Bengal Fisheries) typically attracts more customers than most bookshops
The initial rule that only publishers, and not institutions which just sold or distributed books but did not publish any books, can participate in the fair has been waved in the 2000s. This rule often forced small distributors to bring out a token publication just to be able to participate in the fair.
Themes
Starting from the 1990s, the book fair has been themed annually, typically on a country - on the lines of the Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The theme country embassy is typically given a stall at the fairground centre, and many book shops theme their collections based on the fair theme. The temporary gates of the fair are designed according to the theme, on the basis of a design competition among Calcutta students. Some recent and forthcoming themes include:
Typically, the Chief Guest at the fair is from the themed country and have been such noted dignitaries as Günter Grass and Richard Dawkins.
Starting from 2005, one of the newest participating international pavilions is named the 'guest of honour', and is a kind of secondary theme of the fair. Australia was the guest of honour for 2007.
Dedicated enclaves
- All first editions of books which are released in the fair are housed in a special release gallery.
- The Book Fair has been the annual show for Bengali little magazines since the inception of the fair. The little magazines are now housed in a special dedicated section in the fair.
- From the 1990s, the Calcutta Book Fair also has a special section for budding artists, authors, poets and painters. It is called Montmartre after the Montmartre in Paris. It typically has poetry recitals, and live face sketching for patrons by upcoming artists.
- The fair also has a special children's section starting from the 2000s.
- Following the devastating fire of 1997, the food stalls have also shared a common enclave.
Events
A number of events are held in conjunction with the book fair.
- A number of book signings and book releases with first edition distributions are held in conjunction with the fair, due to the high visibility of the fair
- A series of seminars and talks by literati
- Competitive events for school children like essay writing and trivia sessions
- The Walk for Books to raise money for child literacy programs
- Theme country events, including a talk by the Chief Guest
- The Asoke Kumar Sarkar Memorial Lecture, the annual lecture delivered since 1984 by noted publishers and educationists like W. Bradford Wiley
- The Book Bazaar, the auction held on the last day of the fair to auction off remainder stock, has been discontinued
Propaganda
The Calcutta Book Fair attracts a lot of people looking for free propaganda and idea promotion. The most common propaganda are communist and Naxalite propaganda (reflecting the political history of Calcutta) and an annual feature is one about the geocentric theory of the Earth-Sun system. The fair does have its share of fair and useful propaganda, and relief fund raisers, along the lines of the Frankfurt Book Fair protest movement against the official German spelling reforms.
Problems and Solutions
The biggest problem the book fair faces are the huge crowds which visit the fair - crowd and litter control are a major issue at the fair.
An associated problem is dust pollution, and resulting dust allergy and depreciation of exhibited books due to shopsoiling. The grass is usually trodden bare in the first few days, leaving the top soil dry and prone to erosion. Watering is typically used to control the problem, but it makes the grounds muddy.
Traffic and parking problems during fair days usually make the visit steeped in logistics. Most Calcuttans prefer to use public transport like the Calcutta Metro Railway and bus service, which have extended schedules during fair days.
A large fire in 1997 destroyed over one third of the fair, burnt over 100,000 books and caused the death of a visitor(Jiten Seal)by heart attack brought on by the ensuing stampede. Stricter fire laws, construction laws, and prohibition of open flames in the fair ground were instituted in the wake of the disaster and insurance for stall holders was made compulsory. A massive downpour in 1998 also resulted in a lot of book damage, but the insurance laws made sure that stallowners did not suffer financial damage. The popularity of the fair has continued to grow despite these two setbacks. In both cases, the fair recovered and continued after a damage repair break.
Another problem due to the huge crowds is shoplifting. Typically, every stall has its own security - who control traffic flow into the stall. Such measures often lead to long and winding queues in front of the more popular stalls.
Recent Statistics
The 2005 Calcutta Book Fair was held over an area of 800,000 ft2, with a stall cover area of 200,000 ft2. 535 book stalls took part in the fair. Footfall recorded was over 14 million. Single day sales on the final day exceeded Rs. 20 lakhs or Rs. 2 million.
Trivia
The release of the first Bengali e-book, by Nabanita Dev Sen took place at the book fair in 2001- A live album (of the Calcutta concert) release by folk singer Pete Seeger, took place at the book fair. The Bengali rock band Mohiner Ghoraguli's comeback album Aabaar Bachhar Kuri Pare was released at the fair.
- A two minute silence is observed every year before the official prize giving ceremony, in memory of the sole victim of the 1997 Calcutta Book Fair fire Jiten Seal.
- The fair is a focal point for thrift book buying, both for book lovers and dealers - with many stalls selling slightly soiled or damaged books, library discards and used copies for a fraction of the original price.
- The Calcutta book fair is one of the best places to get out-of-circulation textbooks from Mir Publishers, a publication company of the erstwhile Soviet Union that was rendered defunct after the collapse of the state.
