Publishing scenario in contemporary India is a conceptually India is a conceptually exciting, linguistically rich and quantitatively diverse phenomenon. India is perhaps the only country in the world, which publishes books in more than 24 languages. There are nearly 16,000 publishers producing not less than 80,000 titles in all major Indian languages including English with an annual turnover of Rs. 100,000 million. Of these, almost forty per cent titles are published in English language alone. As a result, India ranks third in the publication of English books immediately after the USA and the UK.
In recognition of its ever-expanding role in the field of publishing. India was declared the Guest of Honour Country for Frankfurt Book Fair, the largest book fair in the world, twice in 1986 and 2006. The New Delhi World Book Fair organised biennially by the National Book Trust, India is the largest Book Fair in the Afro-Asian region. The Trust has so far successfully organized seventeen book fairs of the magnitude of ‘world’ book fair quite successfully.
While the 17 New Delhi World Book Fair, organised in 2006 had 1,255 participants from 17 foreign countries and was spread over 2,300 stalls and stands; the 18 New Delhi World Book Fair has 1,343 participants, including 41 from 22 overseas countries including international bodies such a ILO, WHO, UNICEF, European Union, etc. Spread over an area of 45,500 square metres (approximately) in thirteen halls and covering nearly 2,500 stalls and stand through Hall Nos. 1 to 12 and Hall No. 14, the dates of the Fair are 2 February to 10 February 2008. Details of the placement of participants are given below:
| Foreign Exhibitors |
Hall No. 8 & 9 |
| English Language Publishers |
Hall NO.1F & 1R and Hall NOs. 8 to 5 |
| Distributors of Books in English |
Hall No. 6 |
| Publishers of Books on Science & Technology |
Hall No. 14 |
| Publishers of Books on Social Sciences and Humanities and misc |
Hall NO.1F |
| Publisher of Educational Books |
Hall No. 10 |
| Publishers of Books and Educational Aids for Children |
Hall No. 11 |
| Indian Language Publishers |
Hall No. 12 |
| Hindi Language Publishers & Distributors |
Hall No. 12A |
| Display by Russia: Guest of Honour Country |
Hall No. 7D |
| Books on and by Gandhi |
Hall No. 7E |
| Youth Pavilion |
Hall No. 7B |
| Children’s Pavilion |
Hall No. 7B |
The major attraction of the book fair is the presentation by Russia, which is the Guest of Honour Country at the Book Fair, as the year 2008 was earlier declared the year of Russia in India. The pavilion will provide a bird’s eye view of multicultural Russia where 80 publishers will display their publications, introducing the visitors to Russian language, history, geography, culture and literature. At the same time, there will be activities and competitions for children. The pavilion will also demonstrate Russian technological advances in Internet as well as video technology. The exhibit will be accompanied by many round table discussions and reading sessions where a number of Russian writers, poets and scholars are expected to participate.
Other outstanding features of the Fair are the Youth Pavilion, Children’s Pavilion and a pavilion on Books on and by Mahatma Gandhi. Whereas the Children’s Pavilion will showcase activities for and by children everyday, the Youth Pavilion will conduct variety of programmes for the youth. The pavilion on Gandhi shall display works on and by Mahatma Gandhi as a tribute to the Father of the Nation on his 60th anniversary of martyrdom. The objective is to facilitate exchange of copyright about Gandhian works among Indian and foreign publishers for a wider understanding of Gandhi, his ideas and studies available on him at an international forum. This pavilion will be witness to screening of films and audiovisual presentations on the Mahatma every day.
For the benefit of the participants and the visitors, the NBT shall bring out a WBF Bulletin in English as well as Hindi. The Bulletin shall be published daily providing information about the developments in the Fair. It shall also feature write-ups on the Indian publishing industry. A separate bulletin for children will also be published.
The National Book Trust, India expresses its gratitude to all the participants and to the Federation of India Publishers, Federation of Indian Publishers’ & Booksellers’ Associations in India, Delhi State Booksellers’& Publishers’ Association, Federation of Educational Publishers in India, Akhil Bhartiya Hindi Prakashak Sangh and CAPEXIL for their support.
We hope you will enjoy your participation in the 18 New Delhi World Book Fair!