Kolkata, Feb 23 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Bangladesh State Minister for Cultural Affairs, K M Khalid will be present at the inaugural function of the International Kolkata Book Fair (IKBF) 2022 beginning on February 28.
This being the 50th year of Liberation War of Bangladesh, the Publishers and Booksellers Guild, the organisers of the fair, have decided to give special focus on Bangladesh during this edition of the book fair, Guild general secretary Tridib Chatterjee said on Wednesday.
Famous Bangladeshi writer Selina Hossain will also be present at the inauguration and participate in the literary discourse during the book fair.
The 13-day book fair would be held at Central Park ground in Salt Lake.
He said three gates of the book fair will be the replica of three books penned by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the founding father of Bangladesh.
Among the other gates, there will be a Satyajit Ray Gate in tribute to the maestro on his 100th birth anniversary and Abanindranath Gate which is a tribute to writer, artist Abanindranath Tagore.
Twenty countries will participate at the International Kolkata Book Fair 2022.
Iran will be participating for the first time this year. Bangladesh will have around 50 publishers inside their pavilion.
For the first time in the history of International Kolkata Book Fair, the IKBF will have virtual live presence through the website and social media pages of the book fair, Chatterjee said.
Those who are staying abroad and unable to come to the book fair, can watch the fair along with its different programmes online, Chatterjee said.
There will be approximately 600 stalls and 200 Little Magazine publishers.
To foster reading habits the Guild has instituted "Buy books and win a Book Library campaign like in past years.
Under the campaign, the Book Bumper Library lottery will be organised on four days of the fair.
"We will have one lucky winner on each of those days who will win Book Gift Coupon of Rs 25,000 each," Guild president Sudhangshu Sekhar Dey said.
"Please also note that this year more new books are coming up by the small and medium publishers during the book fair." he added.
The book fair could not be held last year due to the pandemic.
