Book Fair: Foreign Exhibitors Seek Business, Cultural Ties
This stall has novels like Iranian author Seyed Mehdi Shojaee's "In the Twinkling of an Eye", Nima Yousij's "Modern Persian Poetry" and "The Water Urn" by Houshang Moradi Kermani.
National Book Trust (NBT) in association with the India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) organises this fair at Pragati Maidan. This year Singapore is the guest country and South Korea is the focus country.
The fair, which began in 1972, is now considered a major international festival in Asia and this year 30 countries like China, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, UAE, Nepal and Germany are participating in the fair which will conclude Feb 22.
According to Vidya Pertiwi, third secretary, social and cultural department, Embassy of Indonesia, the fair provides opportunities to seek engagement with publishers who would be interested in translating their literature.
"This is our second year at the fair, though we are not selling any books. We are seeking partnerships and displaying what we have to offer," Pertiwi told IANS.
And this is the reason why they have stacked travel encyclopaedias, children's books, fashion magazines, political books and popular Indonesian writers to showcase their literary landscape for the Indian audience.
South Korean exhibitors too aren't selling books, but they would be donating these books to the Korean Cultural Centre in the capital to promote their literary stalwarts and help those Indian students who are learning the language.
"There are many Indian students who are learning the South Korean language. So we want them to improve their writing and reading skills through these books," Eunhee Kim from the Korean Publishers Association told IANS.
"Also, we have brought books of some of our prominent writers and these students would be able to understand our country and issues through these writings," she added.
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