Assam to hold book fair from December

Guwahati: The eagerly anticipated second Assam Book Fair was inaugurated in a formal ceremony (lai xuta puta).

The All Assam Book Publishers and Sellers' Association and the Assam Prakashan Parishad will jointly organise the book fair, which will take place in five locations around Assam.
The occasion will take place between December 29 and January 9, 2023 in Guwahati.

Among others, Vice Chancellor of Cotton University Professor Ramesh Chandra Deka and Mayor of Guwahati Mrigen Sarania attended the function as chief guests.

Professor Deka expressed his delight at taking part in the event to Business-Northeast. "Book enthusiasts will particularly appreciate this event," he said.

Pramod Kalita, Secretary of the All Assam Book Publishers and Sellers' Association, reported that booking for stalls is nearly completed.

He claims that they are entitled to use 32,000 square feet for booking purposes for installing stalls. However the demand is of 45,000 square feet. Booking preferences are offered based on first come, first served basis. However, over 150 booths will be present.

"We are also bringing publishers from Delhi and Kolkata in addition to other publishers. Additionally, we have taken reservations from well-known foreign publications like Penguin, Harper Collins, etc.", he said.

It is informed that from Bangladesh there are applications from 11 publication houses.

The books by notable Assamese authors, science-based books, and children's books will be main attraction of this event.

On specific days, there will also be a special discussion on women authors, publishers, and competition days for school children.

Assam Prakashan Parishad announced a literary award in 2021, with a prize of Rs. 2 lakhs. The amounts have been raised this year to Rs. 5 lakh for authors and Rs. 3 lakh for publishers.

On December 16, they will also release a smartphone application. In addition, the website will provide an application form. The best books released in the last three years will be chosen by the readers through voting using these applications.

On being asked as which Northeast publishers will be participating, Kalita responded to Business-Northeast," with the exception of Assam, the publication scenario of North East is poor. This is an unpleasant fact. However few publishers from Tripura has contacted us for participation. There are publishers from Cachar as well for participation. Majority are independent publishers.

He further stated that efforts were made to gather publishers from Northeast as it was done last year.

However, numerous Kolkata-based publishing houses have sought to participate in the fair this year.
He stated that there were sales of Rs. 5,00,00,000 (5 crores) in the previous year. Even if they achieve this margin this year, they will be content.

Secretary, Dhiraj Goswami said that the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and the Education Minister Ranoj Pegu had proposed holding the Assam Book Fair last year. In Dhemaji and Jorhat, book fairs have been conducted. The fair will now be held in Guwahati on December 29.

By December 28, they will install all the stalls in the field. They have arranged all the needful facilities for the publisher. They can come directly with their lock and key and the books.

He announced that there will be books of both Assamese and English language. There will also be books of Bodo, Bengali and Hindi in this fair.

The estimated cost to host the event this year is Rs. 80,00,000 (80 lakhs). When Business Northeast questioned him about the profit margin from this fair, he responded that their primary goal is to encourage people to read more.

In response to the question by Business-Northeast, of whether book writing may be a source of income for individuals to support themselves, he mentioned that many renowned authors, like Homen Borgohain, Rita Choudhury, Anuradha Pujari, and Santanu Kaushik Baruah, are making their living as book authors. If people write well, it will undoubtedly be sold. He said that Durjoy Dutta, who would attend this book fair, solely writes novels and making crores by doing so.

Other authors have achieved success by publishing novels, including Mitra Phukon.

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