12-day NE Book Fair from Dec 7
By A City Reporter
GUWAHATI, Oct 3 The 9th Northeast Book Fair, 2007 will be held at the
Sonaram School Playground, Bharalumukh, Guwahati from December 7 to December 18.
The All Assam Publishers and Book Sellers Association, organising body of the
book fair, selected its public advisory committee at a general meeting at the
Press Club here recently.
Presiding over the meeting, Giripada Dev Choudhury of the Publishers and Book
Sellers Association said that seven sister states of the North East and Sikkim
will participate in the fair. Ashok Vajpayee, noted Hindi litterateur will be
the chief guest of the occasion and Majuli has been selected as the theme of
the fair this time, he said.
The need of a spacious ground to hold the book fair was once again strongly
felt on the occasion and participants of the meeting urged the government to
open the Judges Field for public use, once again. The city is badly lacking
an open space in the central area to hold such fairs after a ban on public
functions in the Judges Field. Open spaces located in the outer part of the
city fail to draw the desirable crowd, he added.
The newly elected advisory committee has Dr Satyendranath Goswami as its
president, Khanindra Chandra Das as the executive president, Biren Kataki, Dr
Jagadish Patgiri, Abhijit Borthakur, Dr Dipti Phukan Patgiri, and Samudragupta
Kashyap as vice-presidents, Ismail Hussain as secretary, Rajiv Bora and Bibhash
Das as assistant secretary. Dr Lakshminandan Bora, Pabitra Kr Deka, Ashish Dey
and Badan Barua are the advisors of the committee.
Speaking on the occasion, Ismail Hussain, member of the advisory committee said
that along with the organisors, the State government should also take steps to
popularise book-reading habits among the people. The Chief Ministers scheme
to buy books worth Rs 10 crore for the public libraries should also be executed
soon, he said. It is not enough to advertise and write in the newspapers,
rather a more vocal campaign should be launched through the loudspeakers in the
city and its outskirts, he opined.
He also said that the tribal languages of the State and the region should also
get a platform in the book fair.
Pranab Jyoti Deka, while speaking on the occasion, said that to make the book
fair a success, its commercial aspect should also be emphasised. A total
reorientation of the book fair is necessary in todays context. A new approach
should be evolved and those books and participants should be invited in the
fair, which are not available in the city, he added.
Dr Lakhinandan Bora advised that if the books are invited from the publications
considering the age groups and income group of the book lovers of the city, is
could help to boost up the popularity of the fair.
(The Assam Tribune,04.10.2007)
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