AMN / KOLKATA
The 48th Kolkata International Book Fair ends today at Boimela prangan, Salt Lake, Kolkata. This year the book fair started on 28th January. The concluding ceremony was celebrated with a cultural cum literary programme. Germany is the theme country this year. A total of one thousand stalls were there at the book fair.
The oldest existing bookshop in Kolkata has come down heavily on the city’s book fair, saying the “once-glorious” event now promoted poor quality literature through numerous book-launches rather than promoting the habit of reading.
Arabinda Dasgupta, the managing director of Dasgupta and Co., founded in 1886 on College Street, was never a big fan of the Kolkata Book Fair, having opted out of it way back in 1980, because he believed that the event, by dragging for too long, was eating into the book-selling business on College Street. This year, he happened to visit the fair because the release of a book published by Dasgupta and Co. took place there and he came out of the venue with his views against the event only stronger.