Fair books space for women authors

NEW DELHI: It���s time again for the city book lovers to have their annual feast. The 14th edition of Delhi Book Fair was inaugurated by Vice-President Mohammad Hamid Ansari on Saturday.
With ���Tribute to the works of women authors��� as its theme and more than 300 leading publishers showcasing their work at about 700 stalls, the bookworms will have a sea of books to sail through.And with eight foreign countries participating, the focus of this fair is on promoting business exchanges between Indian and foreign publishers.
The organizers of the fair, Indian Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) and the Federation of Indian Publishers (FIP), have come up with innovative ideas to give an international flavour to the fair this year. If the touchscreen kiosks in different halls to tell the visitors about different aspects of the fair were a hit on the very first day, the internet lounge for free browsing and the business lounge for trade meetings were also buzzing with activity. A special theme lounge has also been created for women writers to discuss issues.
And to make the visit to the fair a worthwhile experience, there will be a number of seminars, conferences, book releases and painting competitions for children alongside various other programmes daily during the nine-day affair.
One of the spotlights on the first day was the launch of talking books in regional languages. Going by the success of an audio book in English, a publishing house has launched the first set of 13 talking books in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, each with 3-4 recorded CDs with the voice of professional vocal artists.
The first day also attracted lots of school children. But not all of them were glancing through the books. While some were busy in trying their hands at the animated versions of their course materials that was available at a live demonstration in a stall, others were immersed in comics.
A lot of parents could also be spotted taking their kids to the bookstalls. Said Anshuman Diwedi, a professional: ������In this age of computers, the habit of book reading has become a thing of past among the children. That���s the reason I brought both my kids to the fair on the very first day.������ Showing youngsters the way, earlier in the day, Ansari had visited most of the bookstalls and spent a good time flipping through books at various stalls.
Visitor Abhishek Sahni, a Delhi University student said, ������I have visited book fairs in different cities in India but the variety of books and the layout of the fair here is unique. There is enough space to browse through books, relax and again get back to books. The experience is more like a picnic with books.������