Book Fair 2002 offering varied choice to readers

panaji: books still have their charm. the ever advancing information technology and electronic media have not succeeded in reducingthe importance of published literature. books are still considered to be the storehouses of knowledge and information. they are still a major source of entertainment. held after pretty long gap, ‘book fair 2002’, the exhibition of books organised by institute menezes braganza (imb) has come as a boon for literary circle of goa.it also opened new opportunities for the publishers andbook sellers. the book exhibition with half a dozen stalls set up by book houses in the state offers works of renowned authors published by more than 30 reputed national and international publishers. the topics vary from serious philosophical stuff and critical appreciation literature to light reading including films, sports and children’s literature. ‘book world’, a well-known book house has cambridge dictionaries and encyclopedias, accompanied by cd-rom with sound card and thesaurus, besides study books linked to different subjects, for sale. “we have also set up a separate stall selling books published by national book trust. it includes books in konkani, marathi, hindi and english languages, majority of which are specially written for children. these books are well within the reach of general public,� says mr yoganand kamat, the owner of the stall. management books and children’s literature is being sold like hot cakes, he further informs. ‘gomantak book service’ and suruchi vitaran have their stalls mainly catering to marathi readership, with books of noted litterateurs like p l deshpande, p k atre, v p kale and v v shirwadkar being prominently displayed. the books published by rajhauns publication, pune, continental publication, mauj prakashan griha, rohan publication and jyotsna publication are available at these book stalls. ‘new book shop’ offers literature based on tourist information, cookery, health, children’s stories, besides maps and dictionaries to the buyers. some of the special dictionaries like webster’s dictionary are sold at 50 per cent discount at this stall. narvekar agencies, marcel has most of the books written by goan writers. one can even find a konkani dictionary at this stall. ‘vidya vriksh’, a ponda based book house specialises in educational books in technical, engineering, computer, commerce and economics as well as management fields. the book house is also the distributor for tata mcgraw hill, oxford, orient longman, macmillan, jaicos, ubs, vikas and many other publications. the response from student and teaching community is very good, says mr iyer, the owner of the stall. the educational books still have large demand, he adds. most of the bookstalls offer 10 per cent discount on the purchase. however, some have also offered whopping special discounts on major purchases. the bookstall owners seem to have succeeded in attracting the attention of readers, who had, of recent, delinked themselves from the reading habit. the response from the buyers is good and is improving with each passing day, informs one of the book sellers. the book fair which is open till march 3 seems to work towards keeping the vanishing breed of book readers alive.