Kolkata Book Fair 2012 today at Milan Mela ground in
Kolkata.
Focal theme of this year's book fair - country Italy. At international level Britain, Vietnam, USA, Indo-Latin American Association, Spain, Turask, Peru, China, Apple Publishing International, Japan, Israil and gigantic Bangladesh pavilions will be there.
A 6-day long literary meet would be the main attraction of book fair where eminent writers of national and international fame
will discuss about the present status and future of books.
Bengali version of Severgnini's La Bella
Figura will be released on this occasion. The Bengali version of this
book is called Chhokher Aloy Italy.
This years book stalls have been reduced to 782 from 842.
The event would witness the Guild pay tribute to Swami Vivekananda. A
children's pavilion would be dedicated to Sukumar Roy, to mark his
125th birth anniversary.
The book fair would be inaugurated by Italian journalist, author and
columnist Beppe Severgnini.
The inaugural event would be followed by an orchestra performance by
Kolkata Music Academy with renditions from stalwarts like Henry
Purcell and Antonio Lucio Vivaldi.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation stall at the book fair would be a
treasure trove of anecdotes on Rabindranath Tagore. As part of
Tagore's 150th birth anniversary celebrations, the authorities decided
to stage an exhibition displaying rare photographs and writings of the
Bard in the Calcutta Municipal Gazettes as Tagore had been closely
associated with the city's civic operations in his lifetime. There
would be Tagore's letter from Shantiniketan on November 8, 1928 to
then editor of this Gazette mooting the proposal of numbering premises
in the city in ascending and descending order and sticking plates on
street lamp posts pointing to important landmarks on a particular
road. The bard's suggestions were implemented in the year 1932. Tagore
also selected the design of Chittaranjan Das's memorial at Keoratala
crematorium and expressed his views on the city's architecture and
architectural designs in a letter to the civic authorities.
A short history of Calcutta by A K Roy published in 1901, old Calcutta
in cartoons and Calcutta through an Artist's Eye by R Chakraborty will
also be released at book fair.
Kolkata Book Fair will open for all from 25 January to 5 February 2012.. --
A. B.
Comments