According to National Book Trust, India, the organiser of the event, fresh dates for the event will be announced separately.

Earlier, talking to the media, Govind Prasad Sharma, the chairman of NBT, had said that he had apprised the MoE about the bottlenecks in organising the book fair in the present scenario. “We’ve informed the MoE about the risks in organising this fair. Most publishers have expressed their unavailability for this edition of the book fair. We don’t have much time left for the preparations. And, considering the expected heavy footfall, the organisers will never take the risk with the lives of people. The fair is almost cancelled. Now, we are just waiting for the orders from the ministry.”

Previ0usly, Association of Indian Publishers and Booksellers (AIPB) had written to NBT requesting cancellation of the book fair this year. The letter also urged NBT to arrange a full refund of the exhibition fees.

Manish Kumar Gupta, secretary, AIPB, wrote, “Though we do understand that it is difficult to project the trajectory of the third wave, publishers, distributors and their staff have expressed reluctance to participate in the book fair. There will be a high risk of Covid infection for the participants as well as the visitors if NBT plans to go ahead with the fair.”

The New Delhi World Book Fair is one of the most prestigious and largest book events in the Afro-Asian region and has acquired a reputation among the international publishing industry. This year, the theme was ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ - 75 years of Indian Independence. With France as the guest country, a special Children’s Authors’ Corner and Yuva Corner were supposed to attract young talent in this edition.