Guwahati, December 28
The Assam Book Fair 2024 has started at Assam Veterinary College field, Khanapara in Guwahati with great enthusiasm.
The annual book fair has been organized by the Assam Publication Board in collaboration with the All Assam Publishers and Booksellers Association and it will continue till January 7.
Pramod Kalita, Secretary of Assam Publication Board told ANI that, Assam Education Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu had inaugurated the book fair on December 27 in the presence of renowned writer Hindol Sengupta, Surinder Kumar Ghai, president of the Federation of Publishers and Booksellers Associations in India.
"This book fair will be continued till January 7. A total of 118 publishers and sellers have participated in this book fair and there are 350 stalls. 15 publishers from Kolkata, West Bengal, 16 publishers from Delhi, one each from Haryana and Hyderabad have participated in this book fair," Pramod Kalita said.
He further said that last year publishers from Bangladesh had also participated, but this time we didn't contact them due to the current situation in Bangladesh.
"The publishers of Bangladesh had communicated with us and they don't want to participate this time due to the current situation in the country and we also have not shown our interest in inviting them," Pramod Kalita said.
Last year nearly 135 booksellers and publishers participated in the Assam Book Fair at the Assam Engineering Institute (AEI) field, Chamdmari in Guwahati. Many publishers from Bangladesh also participated in the book fair.
Pramod Kalita, Secretary of the Publication Board of Assam told ANI that the Publication Board of Assam and All Assam Publishers and Book Sellers Association had jointly organized the Assam Book Fair.
"A total of 135 booksellers and publishers from across Assam and other parts of the country have participated in this book fair. We hope that this year's book fair will also be successful. We are trying to make all the arrangements here. Many renowned writers and artists from various parts of the world will take part in this book fair. We have arranged many programmes for the students," Pramod Kalita said.