NEWS World Book Fair from February 14 New Delhi, Oct 31 (UNI) The “Kumbh Mela” of book lovers, the 16th World Book Fair will be held in the national capital from February 14 to 22. Organised biennially by the National Book Trust (NBT), the New Delhi World Book Fair, is now rated as the largest book fair in Asia and Africa, having started its journey in 1972. “The theme of this year's World Book Fair is India's Contribution to World Civilization in the Field of Science and Technology,” NBT Director Shashi Shekhar Sharma told UNI here. He said the Fair will not only be a window to the world of books, it would also focus on India's contribution to the rich heritage of humankind and to the world civilization. Dr. Sharma said the New Delhi World Book Fair serves as a bridge between publishers, booksellers, book distributors and librarians on the one hand and professionals in the publishing industry, intellectuals and academics on the other. “Besides giving an insight into the multilingual publishing industry in India, which has developed substantially in recent years, the fair also offers an opportunity for the exchange of translation, co-publishing and reprint rights,” he added. The fair has grown larger in area and proportion. More than 1000 Indian and overseas partcipants are taking part in this mega book event. Booksellers and distributers, Indian language publishers, foreign participants and English language publishers are the four categories of partcipants, Dr. Sharma said. Unlike many international book fairs, the New Delhi World Book Fair permits the sale of books directly to thousands of book lovers who throng the Fair every day, he added. Courtesy: United News of India (UNI) and Rashtriya Deepika Ltd.