Thaindian News

New Delhi, Dec 24 (IANS) The 16th edition of the annual Delhi Book Fair, which begins on the Christmas Saturday, will see fewer foreign publishers owing to the extended festive season, an official said.The Delhi Book Fair, which is usually held in September, was postponed to December due to the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games. It is jointly organised by the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP).

“This year the book fair is being organised at the festive time from December 25 to January 2 during Christmas and New Year celebrations, so there will be less participants from countries like the US and Britain,” said Shakti Malik, director of the book fair.

With just a day for the book fair to begin, only two countries - China and Pakistan - have confirmed their participation and publishers are worried about their sales being hit.

“Non-participation of international publishers particularly from the US and the UK will definitely affect business, as many readers look out for European authors’ books and they sell like hot cakes,” said Anita Sharma of Indus Publications here.

But organisers said this would help focus on books from across India itself. Nearly 270 Indian publishers apart from the few foreign ones will be participating in the event.

“Although there will be less participation from foreign publishers, this year the book fair will have more books from across the country and our theme itself is rural India,” Soma Chakaravarthy of the ITPO told IANS.

Last year, 2.74 lakh people visited the book fair and this year the organisers expect around five lakh visitors.