New Delhi World Book Fair begins from 7 January
Like all segments of the industry, the effects of demonetisation are likely to dominate the proceedings at the annual New Delhi World Book Fair 2017. For one thing, book industry was hit hardest after the 8 November decision. This is because, books, especially trade books, are not essential commodities. Yet, optimism prevails ahead of the 44th edition of the largest book exhibition in the country, to be held from seven to 15 January 2015 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.
04 Jan 2017 | By Dibyajyoti Sarma
From business standpoint, two key events at the NDWBF are CEOSpeak and the New Delhi Rights Table
According to the National Book Trust (NBT), the organiser, the Fair will promote the rich Indian heritage through music and dance performances. The nine-day event is expected to host 1,500 participants from across India, including over 50 foreign exhibitors. “More than 2,500 stalls will showcase books and reading material in Hindi, English, and other Indian languages for all age-groups, on a wide range of subjects and genre,” a NBT release said.
The regular features of the Fair include a theme and children’s pavilion, foreign pavilion, live FM radio corner, authors’ corners, as well as international events corner. Various literary programmes, including seminars, panel discussions, book release functions, meet-the-author sessions, book releases, as well as interactive events and activities for children and youth has been lined up.
From business standpoint, two key events at the New Delhi World Book Fair are CEOSpeak and the New Delhi Rights Table.
The New Delhi Rights Table aims at promoting Indian books abroad and facilitating business interactions to buy/sell translation rights between Indian and foreign publishers. It provides a unique opportunity for publishers from across the world to meet each other on a one-to-one basis to finalise their interest and agreements for transfer of translation rights available in English, Hindi and other Indian languages. This year, the programme is scheduled for nine and 10 January at the Fair ground.
On 10 January, publishers from India, Germany and France will talk about markets, trends, collaborations in a session jointly organised by IFD and GBO at the NDWBF. Presentations from Indian language publishing, trends in French Book market and German book market will be the highlight of the event.
Meanwhile, in an article published in Scroll.in on 19 December 2016, a sales team executive from Penguin-Random House said that as per the analysis of last four weeks, the total consumer market is down by 35% year-on-year. At the same time, distributors reported a 50% decline in sales in the first four weeks after demonetisation, though things were looking up. According to the article, books in regional languages, which depend more on cash transactions at every level of production, were the worse hit.
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