Book fair at College Square opens
Sixty stalls have been set up at College Square, venue of the boi utsav. Seventy publishing houses, big and small, have taken part in the fair.
The 25th edition of Rourkela Book Fair, organised by Adarsha Pathagara, started today and will continue till 11 February. This time there are 122 stalls involving book sellers from different parts like, Bhopal, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Gorakhpur, Delhi and also from Cuttack, Bhubaneswar, Puri. “Rourkela has a good readership for all kinds of books and we have never been disappointed,” said Bikash Singh from Kolkatta.
For Bijay Malhotra from Delhi, who has come for the first time, there response on the first day was very good. “I was surprised about the kind of enquiry I received in the non-fictional group and this shows the depth of the reader,” he further said.
There will be different kinds of competitions, poetry recital, book reading, book inauguration and other such literary activities every evening. “For us books and culture are two side of same coin so we have packed evening every day,” said the general secretary Gopinath Khuntia of the organising body.
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Another organising body member Narayan Pati, “over the years we have seen visitors also enjoy the cultural and literary events.” It was inaugurated by CEO of RSP Ashwini Kumar. The CEO said, “interest for book reading has not diminished despite changing times and completion from internet and electronic media.” And ED P&A or RSP PK Pradhan said, “ I personally wait for this fair every year.”
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