[Assam] Guwahati Book Fair begins tomorrow(The Assam Tribune, 29.12.2006)

[Buljit Buragohain]

Guwahati, Friday, December 29, 2006  
---------------------------------
    Guwahati Book Fair begins tomorrow
By A Staff Reporter
 GUWAHATI, Dec 28 – The 12-day 21st Guwahati Book Fair will begin at the Chandmari Assam Engineering Institute (AEI) ground here at 11 am of December 30. Noted playwright and litterateur Arun Sarma will inaugurate the fair at a function. The fair will remain open for visitors between 12-30 pm and 8-30 pm on week days and between 11-30 am and 8-30 pm on holidays. The main entrance of the fair is being dedicated to the memory of Late Chandra Prasad Saikia. A giant-size portrait of Late Saikia, the founder of Guwahati Book Fair, will be adorning the gate.

According to the organizers of the fair— Publication Board of Assam (PBA), about 114 firms of publishers and book dealers from the State, other parts of the country and Bangladesh will take part in the fair this time. 

Two publishing houses—Gatidhara and Boi-patra from Bangladesh, have given their consent to take part in the fair. Several publishing houses from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Ludhiana etc places of the country have also given their consent to take part in the fair. Last year, about 105 publishers and book dealers took part in the fair, said the PBA sources.

Eight new titles of the PBA will be made available to the readers in the fair. Noted writers Dr Keshabananda Deva Goswami, Dr Ramesh Kalita, Pradip Saikia, Upen Rabha Hakasam and Dr Madan Sarma, among others, have authored the books.

The organisers have decided not to charge any entry fee from the students. The students of the city educational institutions will also perform cultural programmes in the fair ground in the evenings, said the sources. 

This time, the AEI ground has been made more spacious to accommodate the publishers and book dealers. The total cost for organizing the fair has been estimated to be around Rs 18 lakh. Already, the State Bank of India, United Bank, Directorate of Small Savings and AIDS Control Society, Assam have been approached for sponsorship, said the sources.

Construction of the fair ground is almost complete and it has been awarded to Dutta Electricals, Ulubari.


 Send free SMS to your Friends on Mobile from your Yahoo! Messenger. Download Now! http://messenger.yahoo.com/download.php
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.assamnet.org/pipermail/assam-assamnet.org/attachments/20061229/bfa86637/attachment.htm>