Bengal is proverbially said to hold thirteen festivals in twelve months. The Calcutta Book Fair is gaining prominence and may soon become a proverbial fourteenth.

The pulse of a city beats the loudest at its exhibitions and fairs and Kolkata’s claim to culture is perhaps best upheld by book fairs it hosts every winter. Of them Calcutta Book Fair, better known as Kolkata Boi Mela, organized by the Publisher’s and Booksellers’ Guild, holds pride of place. The fair is a time capsule of Kolkata’s life and culture, the three hundred year young city’s tribute to itself. Kolkata Boi Mela is always something worth experiencing. In 2002 the 27th Calcutta Book Fair was held on the Maidan grounds.

Calcutta Book Fair has grown into a major event in the world calendar. Today it is the largest attended book fair in the world. It is India’s biggest book fair. Calcutta Book Fair slowly but steadily has grown as the cynosure of not only the readers but also today it has become the pride for Calcutta and India. Most significantly, it has become more a great cultural event, than any of Book Fair where trade and commerce are ultimate words. The Calcutta Book Fair is the most important literary event in the country. It is more for readers than the trade. The first book fair was organized in 1975 by bringing together a number of big, medium and small publishers. Since then it has been an annual event, gaining in strength with every year. The fair always begins the last Wednesday of January and runs 12 days.

The 1975 fair attracted some 1,12,000 visitors, and in 2000 it was more than a million. While some 35,000 titles were displayed at the maiden fair, within a decade the number rose to nearly 25,00,000. From a total transaction of rupees 15 lakhs in 1975 the figure has now soared to crores of rupees.

At the end of the fair, the best stalls of various categories are awarded prizes. The variety of stalls recalls a museum: replicas of a temple, a thatched mud hut, or the façade of a famous building. They may display fine filigree work in bamboo; or, at the modern end of the spectrum, sport glef doors, chandeliers and carpeted floors.

The fair is a meeting point for the city’s intelligentsia, authors and publishers. The many eating places provide added distraction and songs of Rabindranath Tagore and Nazrul Islam are played above the hum of the crowd. There is also a daily Fair Bulletin besides an enclosure for budding portrait painters. The carefully designed stalls, easy access to titles both Indian and foreign, display of recent as well a rare books on any subject draw in the crowds.

Calcutta Book Fair is the brainchild of ‘The Publishers & Booksellers Guild’. Basically, with the active work of the guild, it has taken its global look. The Publishers & Booksellers Guild was formed on a humid summer afternoon of 1975 with 14 members having a President, a Vice-President and a Treasurer. There was a slump in sales and books had been reduced to in essential commodities. The problem confronting these people was that Kolkata did not have good book shops where booklovers could spend some time browsing through a variety of books. The members thought that organisation of a Calcutta Book Fair would be the means by which exposition and promotion of various books could be made to the book-loving people.

Mr A L Dias, the then Governor of West Bengal, inaugurated the first Calcutta Book Fair on the Kolkata Maidan opposite Birla Planetarium of Kolkata. The help extended by the local media convinced the Guild that the Fair was a step in the right direction. 1976 was a momentous year for the Guild - it organised successfully the first ever Calcutta Book Fair, took part in the Frankfurt Book Fair and participated in the World Book Fair in New Delhi where it was awarded the prize for the best stall in the medium category. Success was instant.

The pressure of visitors and the pressure of prospective participants desiring more space for display of their books forced the Guild to search for bigger space and in 1978 the Fair was shifted to the bigger ground opposite Rabindra Sadan where 112 participants could be allotted space. That year saw the influx of large groups of visitors not only from the city but from near and distant places. It was then felt that Calcutta Book Fair was here to stay.

In a general way, the demands for stalls outstrips the available space. The search for an even bigger space remained a mirage and since 1991 the guild has been holding the fair at a new venue on the Kolkata Maidan across Outram Road near Park Street crossing. In 1995, the Govt. of West Bengal allowed an additional space of about 50000 sq. ft. so as to allow accommodation for 415 bookstalls, 125 umbrella spaces and little Magazine groups and several kiosks for snacks and beverages.

For the last few years, the Calcutta Book Fair is being held in the Park Street Maidan. It is beside the Park Street and Jawaharlal Nehru Road crossing. Park Street Metro Station is just a footstep away from this place. More than 700 publishers joined the fair in 2000, which was held on a 3,50,000 sq. ft. area.

The year 1997 was a witness to the resilience of the publishers, the booksellers and the booklovers of Kolkata and the sense of discipline and responsibility displayed by the Government of West Bengal. An unfortunate accident resulted in the total book fair being gutted on its 6^th day. As all the participants were shell-shocked and staggered, the Government came forward and extended its financial and organisational help to the Guild so that the fair could be resumed within a week. Financial help was also extended to the poor participants which greatly supported their morale. Inspite of the loss of property due to the fire, the fair was still held for thirteen days. The media and the people of Kolkata also came forward and the efforts of all concerned made the fair a success.

In recent years a cultural space has been created in the Book Fair ground. In 1995 an exclusive area for the artists and Montmartre was created. Then in 1996 Air-conditioned Hall for seminars and serious discussions was introduced. In 1998 Children’s Pavilion, and in 1999 India Pavilion named ‘Adda’ were introduced. Thus Book Fair is now becoming a confluence of India's interactive culture like this glorious city.

It would be simplistic to describe the Fair as merely a show. It is something more - ‘larger then life’, according to a publisher who participates regularly. The Fair is a time capsule of Kolkata’s life and culture. The 300 year young city’s tribute to itself.

Calcutta International Book Fair

Publishers and Booksellers Guild

Mr Dwijendranath Basu, Director

5A, Bhawani Dutta Lane,

Kolkata 700 073 INDIA

Phone: +91 33 2241 3680